The US government has moved to curb the European Commission's reach by applying to join Elon Musk's legal challenge to a €120m fine levied against X.
In December 2025 the Commission found X had "deceives users" by selling blue verified marks without "meaningfully verifying" who sat behind the accounts. Regulators also accused the platform of failing to give transparency around adverts and of denying researchers access to public data.
The Department of Justice filed an application with the EU's General Court supporting Musk's and X's attempts to dismiss the case. US Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate argued the commission had "inappropriately attempted" to expand its reach to American companies outside its control and said the US "has a clear interest" in ensuring the decision aligns with "how territorial jurisdiction is generally understood in international law".
The filing adds that the US wants to guard against rulings that would "otherwise prejudice" US-headquartered digital services that "contribute significantly" to its economy. The application cites a provision in the Statute of the Court of Justice of the EU that allows a state to intervene when it "can establish an interest in the result of the case to the court".
Political actors have already weighed in. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Federal Communications Commission criticised the EU regulator, accusing it of attacking and censoring US firms. Rubio wrote on X, "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." Musk reposted the message with a single-word endorsement, "absolutely." Musk has previously spent millions helping elect Donald Trump and other Republicans, and he has said EU tech rules "inhibit progress" for companies.
The European Commission has defended its move as enforcing digital and democratic standards and denied targeting any nationality. The fine was the Commission's first formal non-compliance decision under the Digital Services Act, and the EU is conducting further probes into X, including an investigation into its integrated AI assistant Grok over concerns it was used to create sexualised images of real people. The DOJ's application has been lodged with the General Court, and the Commission has been contacted for comment.
