Fri 5 Dec 2025 06.25 EST Last modified on Fri 5 Dec 2025 10.54 EST Share Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has been fined €120m (£105m) after it was found in breach of new EU digital laws, in a ruling likely to put the European Commission on a collision course with the US billionaire and potentially Donald Trump. The breaches, under consideration for two years, included what the EU said was a “deceptive” blue tick verification badge given to users and the lack of transparency of the platform’s advertising. The commission rules require tech companies to provide a public list of advertisers to ensure the company’s structures guard against illegal scams, fake advertisements and coordinated campaigns in the context of political elections. In a third breach, the EU also concluded that X had failed to provide the required access to public data available to researchers, who typically keep tabs on contentious issues such as political content. The ruling by the European Commission brings to a close part of an investigation that started two years ago. The commission said on Friday it had found X in breach of transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), in the first ruling against the company since the laws regulating the content of social media and large tech platforms came into force in 2023. In December 2023, the commission opened formal proceedings to assess whether X may have breached the DSA in areas linked to the dissemination of illegal content and the effectiveness of the measures taken to combat information manipulation, for which the investigation continues. Under the DSA, X can be fined up to 6% of its worldwide revenue, which was estimated to be between $2.5bn (£1.9bn) and $2.7bn in 2024. Three other investigations remain, two of which relate to the content and the algorithms promoting content that changed after Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 and rebranded it X. The commission continues to investigate whether there have been breaches of laws prohibiting incitement to violence or terrorism. It is also looking into the mechanism for users to flag and report what they believe is illegal content. Senior officials said the fine broke down into three sections: €45m for introducing a “verification” blue tick that users could buy, leaving others unable to determine the authenticity of account holders; €35m for breaches of ad regulations; and €40m for data access breaches in relation to research. In a post on X commenting on rumours of the EU ruling on Thursday, the US vicepresident, JD Vance, told the bloc it “should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage”. In a response post Musk wrote: “Much appreciated.” Before Musk took over Twitter, blue ticks were only awarded to verifiable account holders, including politicians, celebrities, public bodies and verified journalists in mainstream media and established new media, such as bloggers and YouTubers. After the takeover, users who subscribed to X Premium were then eligible for blue tick status. Henna Virkkunen, who is the executive vice-president at the European Commission responsible for tech regulation, said: “With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability. “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU.”