The US government has formally moved to support Elon Musk’s legal challenge against a €120 million ($136.51 million) fine imposed by the European Union on his social media platform, X.
The US Department of Justice said on Thursday it had filed an application to intervene in cases brought by X Corp, X Holdings and Musk before the EU’s General Court.
The cases seek to annul the European Commission’s December 2025 decision that found X and Musk liable for violations of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and imposed the €120 million penalty.
The EU fine followed an investigation into X’s compliance with the DSA, with regulators citing concerns over the platform’s blue verification mark, advertising repository and access to public data for researchers. The Commission described it as its first non-compliance decision under the legislation.
US challenges EU’s regulatory reach
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the US Justice Department’s Civil Division said the European Commission had “inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction”.
The Justice Department said it had concerns about how the Commission determined liability under the DSA, including its treatment of Musk and other companies linked to him.
The US government has previously criticised aspects of the EU’s approach to regulating major technology companies, while the European Commission has maintained that its digital rules apply based on the services and activities covered by EU law rather than the nationality of a company.
EU defends Digital Services Act
The European Commission imposed the €120 million fine on X in December 2025 for what it described as breaches of transparency obligations under the DSA.
The regulator cited the design of X’s blue checkmark, shortcomings in its advertising repository and restrictions affecting researchers’ access to public data.
In July 2026, the Commission accepted an action plan submitted by X aimed at addressing some of the identified transparency issues, including improvements to its advertising repository and researcher access to public data.
The US intervention now places Washington directly in the legal proceedings as the General Court considers the challenges to the Commission’s decision.
