Read more: Lawmakers Unveil New Bills to Curb Big Tech’s Power and Profit The row comes at a time when that relationship is increasingly under strain over questions of free speech, immigration, and the war in Ukraine. Musk replied "Bulls***" under a European Commission post about the fine. Then on Sunday, he called for the E.U. to be “abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people.” Despite their past differences, Musk and the Trump Administration have been in lockstep on the issue of tech regulation in Europe. Both the X CEO and the Administration view any regulation of American tech platforms as an attack on free speech. Advertisement The European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, has denied that the DSA is about censorship. The landmark law, passed in 2022, requires tech companies—including American giants like Meta and X—to remove illegal content and provide transparency about their content moderation. DSA fines can be as high as 6% of a company's annual global revenue. "We are not here to impose the highest fines,” the European Commission's tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, said Friday. “We are here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced and if you comply with our rules, you don't get the fine. And it's as simple as that." "I think it's very important to underline that DSA is having nothing to do with censorship," she told reporters. TIME has reached out to both the European Commission and X for comment. America and Musk vs Europe But Trump Administration officials have spent the last few days sounding off on social media, painting the fine as part of a larger attack on the American tech industry and on free speech. Advertisement “The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X on Friday. “The days of censoring Americans online are over.” Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr also condemned the union Friday morning, saying the E.U. “is fining a successful U.S. tech company for being a successful U.S. tech company.” Few have been more outspoken on tech regulation than Vice President J.D. Vance, who built close ties with a number of Silicon Valley titans on his way to the White House.