European Union prepares major punishment against Elon Musk’s X

European Union regulators are preparing major punishment against Alone Musk’s social media platform X to break a historical law to deal with illegal materials and disintegration, with knowledge of schemes, four people said, a step that is likely to increase tension with the United States by targeting one of the closest advisors to President Trump.

The penalty has been set to include fines and demands for product changes, said people who refused to discuss the ongoing investigation. He said that it is expected to be declared in this summer and social media companies will be issued under a new European Union law to force their services to the police.

European authorities consider the risks of pursuing Sri Trump amidst trade, tariffs and wide trans-alantic disputes on trade, tariffs and wars in Ukraine. The fine may overtake $ 1 billion, said one person said, as regulators try to create an example of X to prevent other companies from violating the law, called the Digital Services Act.

European Union officials said their investigation in X was proceeding independently of tariff dialogue after the announcement of the leading new levy this week. Test began In 2023 and the regulators issued an initial decision last year that X had violated the law.

Officials said the European Union and X could still reach an agreement if the company agrees to fulfill the concerns of the regulators, the officials said.

The X also faces a second European Union’s investigation which is widespread and may be punished beyond this. In that investigation, two people said, European Union officials are creating a case that the X’s hand-off approach for policing user-related materials has made it a center of illegal indecent language, disintegration and other materials, which is seen as a democracy in the 27-nation blocks.

“We have always implemented and in full compliance with global rules, will continue to implement our laws without discrimination against all companies working in the European Union,” A spokesman of the European Commission, the European Union Executive Branch said in a statement, especially announced to comment on X.

X refused to comment.

Officials in Brussels hope that Mr. Musk, who has criticized European policies in the form of sensorship, to fight any regulation. Last July, after the European Union’s initial findings were released, Mr. Musk Said He was ready to face any fine in “a very public fight in court”.

This can establish a legal conflict with a wide impact. If Mr. Musk refused to follow the orders of the European Union to change his service, it may result in a deadlock as to how to comply with the X.

The X investigation has been closely observed as a major effort to implement the Digital Services Act, which requires companies to provide adequate transparency about their platforms to do better police and their services. This law has become a flashpoint in a trans-tantric debate about free speech, compared to the regulation of the European Union for Digital Censorship compared to the regulation of the European Union with Vice President JD Vance in February.

After Mr. Trump was elected, European regulators slowed down the X investigation to assess a possible decline, a person said. Recently, as the trade tension with the United States intensified, the authorities decided to suppress further.

Last year, European Regulatory Conclude This X was violating the law by refusing to provide data to external researchers, making it difficult to measure how disintegration and other harmful materials spread on service. Officials also believe that X has failed to provide adequate transparency about advertisers, or to verify the authenticity of users who pay a “verified” account, which make the stage more weak for misuse and foreign intervention.

The European Union and X have been in discussion for months of investigation. After the initial decision against X last year, the company replied with hundreds of points of dispute that the regulatory rebellion, two officials said.

European Union officials said that accurate fine against X would not be fixed until the final announcement is close. Under the Digital Services Act, companies can be fined up to 6 percent of global revenue, although regulators rarely pursue the largest-most punishment.

Unlike Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon, which are traded publicly, X is only owned by Mr. Musk. The European Union’s regulatory law is considering using a piece of law that allows them to calculate a fine based on revenue including other companies that Mr. Musk controls privately, such as his rocket manufacturer SpaceX. One person said that the potential fine exceeds $ 1 billion, one person said.

X is not the only tech company in the cross hair of the European Union. Regulators are expected to declare the penalty against Meta and Apple to violate the 2022 laws, the Digital Markets Act, which aims to promote competition in Tech. Meta is also less Investigation To violate the Digital Services Act by potentially protecting minors.

The investigation shows that the European Union plans to continue the aggressive regulation of American technical giants. For more than a decade, the European Union has investigated or fined US Tech veterans including Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta for weak inspection of anticampatative business practices, LX data secrecy and user-generated materials.

European technical regulation may have played a role in the shape of tariffs announced this week against the European Union in February, White House, White House Published a memorandum Warning that the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act were being investigated to target the American companies incorrectly.