Several senior figures of the administration, including US vice-president JD Vance, have criticised the EU’s fining X. Musk is one of the largest donors to President Trump and his favoured Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections.
In its statement, the DOJ said the DSA had improperly “extended legal scrutiny to Mr Musk himself as a private individual and implicated entirely separate and unrelated American corporate entities under his ownership
The DOJ also asserted that the Commission inappropriately calculated the fine based on the combined global annual revenue of other companies that Musk controlled, rather than what X earned within its jurisdiction.
In March 2025, X was first merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which was subsequently acquired by his rocket maker SpaceX ahead of its public listing in June this year.
SpaceX declined to comment.
Separately, the EU is investigating X for other potential breaches under the DSA, including whether the company has assessed and mitigated risks associated with the integration of its AI chatbot Grok into X for EU users.
Apple is also appealing a €500 million fine imposed under the EU’s related Digital Markets Act for anti-competitive behaviour in its app store.
Trump has railed against the penalties, calling them “overseas extortion” and called them a “form of taxation.” During his first administration, the president unsuccessfully tried to influence Apple’s challenge against a €13 billion Irish tax bill.
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