This was reported by RBC, citing Reuters. The publication notes that the US accuses the European Commission of unlawfully extending its jurisdiction to American companies.
“The European Commission has unlawfully sought to expand its regulatory authority to cover US companies that are not present or operating within its jurisdiction,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the US Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
Background to the dispute
Last December, the EU authorities decided to fine the X platform €120 million under the Digital Services Act, as RBC reports. The European Commission considered that verified accounts on X, marked with a blue tick, misled users. On the platform, anyone can pay to obtain verified user status “without any meaningful verification by the company as to who is behind the account, making it difficult for users to assess the authenticity of accounts and content”.
The EU’s Digital Services Act regulates the operation of online platforms and establishes uniform rules for digital safety. Platforms are obliged to promptly remove prohibited content at the request of regulators; platforms with an audience of over 45 million monthly users are subject to strict additional requirements and audits.
Following the imposition of the fine, X owner Elon Musk stated that “EU bureaucracy is slowly suffocating Europe” and called for the abolition of the European Union.
In May 2026, X.AI Holdings (which owns X) and Musk filed lawsuits with the EU Court of Justice seeking to overturn the European Commission’s decision in the case against the social network.
Washington is also opposed to the EU’s restrictions
The US authorities are also actively criticising Brussels’ actions regarding restrictions on social media platforms. As reported by Logos Press, last July the US State Department sharply criticised the Digital Services Act, declaring that the EU authorities were imposing “censorship”. “This Orwellian message will not fool the United States. Censorship is not freedom,” read the State Department’s statement, published on the same X platform.
The EU is not only taking action against Elon Musk’s company – multi-billion fines have also been imposed on Google, Meta, Microsoft and others.
The US government and members of Congress have repeatedly criticised the EU’s approach to regulating tech giants, calling it a “tool of censorship”. In Washington, there is a firm belief that these measures are primarily directed against American online platforms and tech giants. They regard this, amongst other things, as unfair competition on the part of the EU authorities. Such claims were also contained in a report prepared by the US House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee.
In response, the European Commission states that it is merely defending its digital and democratic standards.
However, at the end of last year, the US State Department imposed visa sanctions on five EU citizens, accusing them of attempting to impose censorship on US digital platforms and curtail freedom of speech.
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
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