EU vows to pursue €120 million fine on X after US backs Musk's court challenge

The European Union's executive arm said Friday it is prepared to defend a €120 million ($137 million) fine against the social media platform X after the US government threw its support behind a legal effort by Elon Musk to have the case dismissed. The European Commission fined X late last year for breaches of the bloc’s landmark digital protections, stoking tensions with Washington. The EU fine against X, which followed a two-year investigation, was the first penalty issued under the bloc's digital regulations governing online content. Regulators said X’s paid-for blue checkmarks violate the EU's online transparency obligations. "On X, anyone can pay to obtain the ‘verified' status without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account," the European Commission said in a press release at the time. The US Justice Department said Thursday that it had filed an application to support X's bid to have the case annulled at the European Union's General Court. Defending Musk It was the second time in three months that the Justice Department has intervened to defend a company owned by Musk. In July, the Justice Department filed a motion to intervene in a civil rights lawsuit th...