EU fines X (Twitter) €120 million, Musk cuts off EU’s ad account

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On Friday, the European Union decided it was time to stop playing warning shots and instead aimed directly at X (Twitter) with a €120 million fine (around $140 million) for allegedly violating the Digital Services Act. 

This marks the first time the EU has actually pulled the monetary trigger under the law, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the past few years, it’s that Elon Musk was never going to respond with quiet corporate diplomacy.

Instead, Musk logged onto his own platform and offered a one-word rebuttal: “Bullshit.” Concise. Elegant. Shakespearean.

But the drama didn’t end there. Just 24 hours later, Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, claimed the European Commission had pulled a sneaky move to amplify its announcement post. 

According to Bier, the Commission dusted off an ad account it hasn’t used since 2021 and used a special format meant only for promotional material, essentially, a digital megaphone, to blast out news of the fine. 

Today, we fined X for non-compliance with transparency obligations under the DSA.

We're holding X accountable for:
🔹Deceptive design of its ‘blue checkmark’
🔹Lack of transparency of its advertising repository
🔹Failure to provide access to public data for researchers

↓

— European Commission (@EU_Commission) December 5, 2025

He also accused the EU of disguising the post as a video link to boost engagement, even though it actually contained a legitimate video. Semantics, perhaps, but enough to spark outrage within X HQ.

In response, Bier did what any reasonable executive of a social platform might do when annoyed by a regulatory body: he shut down the Commission’s ad account entirely.

Now, before you imagine EU officials scrambling in panic, it’s worth noting that if they really haven’t used the account in three years, this move lands somewhere between symbolic protest and unplugging a karaoke machine no one touches.

Still, X isn’t off the hook. It can appeal, but for now, the fine stands. 

And in addition to writing a large check, X has 60 days to explain how it plans to clean up misleading verified checkmarks, or risk more penalties.