Musk and X launch legal appeal against EU’s record €120 million fine

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has filed an appeal at the European Union’s General Court challenging a €120 million ($141 million) fine imposed by the European Commission, the company said Friday.

The appeal was confirmed in a statement from X’s Global Government Affairs account after a series of case listings appeared this week on the court’s InfoCuria website. The filings list several business entities linked to X, as well as Musk himself, as plaintiffs seeking to overturn the commission’s decision.

The four listings name various business entities connected to X, as well as its owner, Elon Musk, as plaintiffs challenging the European Commission.

The European Commission’s fine in December was the first-ever penalty under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping 2022 law aimed at curbing online disinformation and influence operations and tightening rules for large digital platforms.

Under the DSA, the largest online platforms must protect users from manipulation and can face fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover for violations. The privately owned X does not publicly disclose its revenue.

At the time of the fine, Musk’s net worth was estimated at about $490 billion, making the penalty worth about 0.0245% of his personal wealth.

The Commission had previously informed X it believed the company broke DSA rules by misleading users over its paid-for “verified mark” scheme, commonly known as the blue checkmark, and by failing to meet transparency requirements related to political advertising and researchers’ access to public data.

In its statement, X said the decision stemmed from what it called an “incomplete and superficial” investigation, citing “grave procedural errors” and alleging violations of its rights of defense and basic due process.

The company said the case could set important precedents for enforcement, penalty calculations and fundamental rights protections under the DSA, adding that it remains committed to user safety and transparency while defending what it called users’ access to a global public forum.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told Recorded Future News: “We are aware that X lodged an appeal and we have no specific comments on this, we will defend our position in court.”