The regulatory bodies of the European Union are preparing large sanctions against the social media platform Elona Muska X for violating the law on orientation fighting in the fight against unauthorized content and misinformation, four people with knowledge of plans, which is likely to increase tensions in the United States by focusing on one of the most important President Trump advisors.
The sanctions are determined to include a fine and requirements for product changes, have stated that people who have refused to be identified by a discussion of the ongoing investigation. It is expected to be announced this summer and it will be first issued under the new EU law, which is to force social media companies to police for their services, they said.
The European authorities are considering how large they are issued by X because they are considering the risks of further antagonization of Mr. Trump in the middle of the broader transatlantic disputes over trade, tariffs and war in Ukraine. The fine could exceed $ 1 billion, one person stated because the regulators are trying to make an example of X to discourage other companies since the violation of the law, the Act on Digital Services.
EU officials said their investigation X proceeded independently of the negotiations on the tariff after Mr. Trump announced the main new fees this week. Investigation began In 2023 and last year, the regulators issued a preliminary decision that X violated the law.
The European Union and X could still reach a settlement if the company agreed to change the concerns of regulatory bodies, the officials said.
X also faces a second EU investigation that is wider and could lead to other fines. In this investigation, two people said that EU officials are building a case that Hands-off X to police content generated by a user made it a center of illegal hateful manifestations, misinformation and other materials that are considered to be a sub-democracy during the 27-Raition block.
“We have always promoted and will continue to promote our laws fairly and without discrimination against all companies operating in the EU in full adherence to global rules,” A spokesman for the European Commission, the executive branch of the block, said in his statement and refused to comment on the X.
X refused to comment. After the publication of this article published This coercive measures against him would be a “unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on freedom of expression”. X said it would do everything in their power to prevent their business and “protect freedom of expression in Europe”.
Brussels officials expect Mr. Musk, who criticized European politicians as a form of censorship, to fight any regulation. In July, after the preliminary findings of the European Union were released, Mr. Musk said He was looking forward to attacking any punishment in a “very public battle in court”.
This could create a legal confrontation with extensive consequences. If Mr. Musk refuses to comply with the EU orders to change its service, it may result.
The X investigation was carefully monitored as the first major attempt to enforce the digital services Act, which requires companies to better police platforms and provide adequate transparency on how their services work. The law became the point of the dispute in the transatlantic debate on freedom of expression, with the vice president of JD Vance in February compared the EU regulation to digital censorship.
After Mr. Trump was elected, the European regulators slowed the investigation of X to assess the potential fallout, one person said. Recently, when the authorities decided to push forward.
Last year’s European regulatory bodies closed that X violated the law by refusing to provide data to external scientists, making it difficult to measure how misinformation and other harmful materials spread to the service. The authorities also believe that X does not provide adequate transparency on advertisers or verify the authenticity of users who pay for a “verified” account, causing the platform more vulnerable to abuse and foreign interference.
The European Union and X concerned the investigation of the month. After a preliminary judgment against X last year, the company responded with hundreds of disputes that the regulators worked on to refute, two officials said.
EU officials stated that the exact punishment against X would not be decided as long as they are close to the final announcement. Under the Digital Services Act, companies may be fined up to 6 percent of global income, although regulatory bodies rarely monitor the biggest fine.
Unlike Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon, which are publicly traded, X is owned by Mr. Musk. EU regulators are considering using a piece of law that allows them to calculate a fine on the basis of revenue, which includes other companies that Mr. Musk privately controls as a missile manufacturer, SpaceX. This increases the potential fine to more than $ 1 billion, one person said.
X is not the only technological society in cross hair of the European Union. The regulators are expected to announce sanctions against META and Apple for violating the Act on Digital Markets of 2022, the aim of which is to strengthen the competition in technology. Meta is also below investigation For a potential violation of the Act on Digital Services by not protecting minors.
The investigation shows that the European Union plans to continue the aggressive regulation of American technology giants. For more than ten years, Bloc has been investigating American technical giants, including Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta for anti -ophetical business practices, lax data privacy, and weak supervision of the user -generated content.
European technological regulation could play a role in the size of the tariffs that Mr. Trump announced this week against the European Union. In February the White House Published a note Warning that the Digital Market Act and the Digital Services Act have been examined for unjustly focused on American companies.
