Senior US Diplomats Criticize EU Policies That Hit X With $140 Million Fine

The logo of social network X displayed on a smartphone in Brussels on Sept. 27, 2024. Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty ImagesU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and several other senior U.S. officials have criticized the European Union’s (EU) internet policies, likening them to censorship, after the governing bloc last week levied Elon Musk’s social media platform X with a $140 million fine for breaching its online content rules.On Dec. 5, EU tech regulators fined X 120 million euros, or $140 million, following a two-year investigation under the Digital Services Act, concluding that the social platform had breached multiple transparency obligations, including the “deceptive design of its ‘blue checkmark,’ the lack of transparency of its advertising repository, and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers.”