US backs Elon Musk's bid to overturn €120m EU fine against X

The US government is seeking to join Elon Musk's legal challenge to overturn a €120m (£105m) EU fine against X over its blue tick badges.

But US Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said on Thursday that the commission had "inappropriately attempted" to expand its reach to American companies outside its control.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed an application, external with the EU's General Court in support of Musk's and X's attempts to dismiss ​the case.

The DOJ said the US "has a clear interest" in ensuring any decision by the commission was applied consistently with "how territorial jurisdiction is generally understood in international law".

In a press briefing on Friday, external, European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said it was "ready to defend" its position in court.

In addition to its use of blue ticks, EU regulators had accused X of failing to provide transparency around its adverts and denying researchers access to public data.

"Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU," she said.

"The European Commission's fine isn't just an attack on X, it's an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments," Rubio wrote in a post on X.

The action marked the Commission's first official non-compliance decision under the Digital Services Act (DSA), one of two mandatory rulebooks governing online platforms in the EU.

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