Elon Musk faces potential personal hit in EU X probe

A possible multi-million euro fine for a breach of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) could hit X’s CEO Elon Musk personally, a spokesperson for the European Commission has told Euronews.

The details, first reported by Bloomberg, come as The Commission is expected to wrap up a pending DSA investigation into X – for allowing dark patterns and failing to curb the spread of illegal content – within months. 

The spokesperson said that the obligations under the EU platform rules “are addressed to the provider of the very large online platform,” that entity making the business decisions and exercising decisive influence over the platform could be either a natural or legal person.

Whether Musk is legally considered to be the personal provider of X remains moot. If so, any potential fine issued for breaching the DSA would be calculated on the basis of the provider’s total worldwide annual turnover. 

DSA fines may total up to 6% of the company’s annual global revenue, but if Musk is held liable personally, the Commission would also account for the revenues of companies such as Space Exploration Technologies and Neuralink.

The Commission said that the definitive identify of the provider of a very large online platform will only be resolved at the stage of a final decision.

Secret deal

X was established in 2023 by Musk as the successor to Twitter. It is owned by X Holdings which is mostly owned by Musk.

The EU executive started a probe into X for a possible DSA breach last December. In July, it preliminarily found that X’s blue check marks are deceptive, and that the online platform falls short on transparency and accountability requirements. The company now has a chance to respond to the accusations and make any necessary compliance changes.

In July Musk accused the Commission of offering X “an illegal secret deal” to censor speech to escape a fine, which was denied by the EU executive. 

At the same time, as part of the probe, regulators are still looking into whether X is failing to do enough to curb the spread of illegal content — such as hate speech or incitement of terrorism — and the effectiveness of measures to combat “information manipulation”.

The DSA became applicable to all online platforms in February. The Commission has sent numerous requests for additional information to online platforms, and has begun investigating AliExpress, Meta’s platforms Facebook and Instagram and TikTok.