The United States interceded on Thursday to support Elon Musk and his X platform’s challenge to a $140 million fine from European officials, who had accused the social media company of failing to prevent deceptive behavior on its site.
The European Commission fined X in December, saying that by allowing users to pay for a “verified” badge without confirming their identity, X had deceived users. Officials also accused the site of using opaque advertising practices and failing to give researchers access to its data.
The fine was the bloc’s first such action under its landmark Digital Services Act, which regulates how platforms police content. X and Mr. Musk asked the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union to annul the decision in February.
On Thursday, the United States asked the court whether it could intervene in support of those legal challenges, according to a Justice Department news release.
“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate, who runs the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. The United States will not tolerate Europe’s “engaging in regulatory overreach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth,” he added.
The decision further aligns the Trump administration with Mr. Musk, who is the world’s richest man and has been an ally of President Trump and the global right. It is the latest effort by the administration to undercut foreign social media rules that it sees as attacks on free speech, especially like-minded conservative voices.
The administration’s intervention increases pressure on a second, broader European investigation into X’s hands-off approach to moderating content on its site. The bloc announced in January that it was also investigating X over its A.I. chatbot, Grok, which had generated sexually explicit images, including of children.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the company or Mr. Musk.
X is part of Mr. Musk’s SpaceX, which went public in a record offering in June.
Adam Satariano contributed reporting from London.
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