The European Union’s role as a global tech enforcer faces a pivotal moment as Brussels stares down a long-anticipated deadline for deciding whether to hit Elon Musk’s X with a major fine for violating its 2022 Digital Services Act.
The geopolitical impact could be huge. The European Union avoided making concessions on its digital rules when negotiating its recent trade agreement with the United States, but the rules have become a major sticking point for President Trump and his big tech backers. The trade deal, which has not been finalized, could now hinge on European enforcement decisions.
Amnesty International released a report on Monday that said X was helping to spread homophobic and transphobic content in Poland, a potential violation of the E.U. law, which threatens fines up to 6 percent of global annual revenue. X, which is a subsidiary of Mr. Musk’s privately held company xAI, had annual revenue of $2.7 billion in 2024, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Amnesty International urged the European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, to treat the issue as a violation of the Digital Services Act, which governs how online platforms must handle illegal content such as hate speech.
The social media platform did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The European Commission said in 2024 that X had breached the Digital Services Act by allowing users to deceive others about their identities and fell short of transparency requirements. The commission was expected to impose a fine in the summer, but action was reportedly postponed during tariff talks between the United States and the European Union.
Progress on trade has not reduced tensions. Mr. Trump recently threatened new tariffs and export restrictions against countries that apply digital rules to U.S. tech companies. The president’s social media post last week did not name Europe, but its reference to “Digital Services Legislation and Digital Markets Regulations” suggests that his targets include the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, the European Union’s recent antitrust law. Mr. Trump said the laws were “designed to harm, or discriminate against, American technology.”
The chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, wrote to 14 large tech firms last month, suggesting they should not comply with the E.U. law and Britain’s Online Safety Act, which covers similar ground. “American consumers do not reasonably expect to be censored to appease a foreign power and may be deceived by such actions,” he wrote.
The commission denied that the laws discriminated against U.S. tech and insisted that the bloc had the right to regulate companies operating on its turf.
Thomas Regnier, a commission spokesman, said that the body was aware of the Amnesty International report, and added that the Digital Services Act required large platforms like X to have “adequate measures” to mitigate hate speech. He declined to comment on when any final decision on X might be made.
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