US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT BACKS X'S BID TO OVERTURN EU FINE

The US Department of Justice has applied to the European Union's General Court to support Elon Musk and X's bid to overturn a €120 million (£105 million/$137 million) fine imposed by the European Commission. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the Commission had "inappropriately attempted" to extend its authority to American companies outside its jurisdiction. The department said the US had "a clear interest" in how territorial jurisdiction is applied to US-headquartered digital firms. It is the second time in three months the department has intervened for a Musk-owned company, having backed xAI in July.

The Commission fined X in December 2025 following a two-year investigation, the first penalty issued under the bloc's Digital Services Act. Regulators said X's paid blue verification checkmarks involved "deceptive design practices" because the platform was not "meaningfully verifying" who controlled an account, and cited a lack of transparency around advertising and restricted researcher access to public data. Henna Virkkunen, the Commission's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, said at the time the Commission was "holding X responsible for undermining users' rights and evading accountability". Musk has previously said EU tech regulation "inhibits progress".

Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said it was "ready to defend" its position in court, calling enforcement of its rules the bloc's "sovereign right" and describing its case as "solid". US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Federal Communications Commission have accused the EU regulator of attacking and censoring American firms. The July intervention involved a lawsuit brought by the NAACP and other groups against Musk's xAI over unpermitted gas turbines powering its Mississippi data centre. The case against X's fine remains before the EU's General Court.