US Asks EU Court to Let It Back Musk and X in Fight Over $137M DSA Fine

The US Department of Justice said it has filed an application with the European Union's General Court seeking permission to intervene on the side of Elon Musk and his platform X, which are challenging a €120 million fine issued under the bloc's Digital Services Act.

Washington asks for a seat at the table

The General Court in Luxembourg will now decide whether the US has the right to take part. The department prepared the application with the help of the State Department.

The Justice Department argues the European Commission overstepped its jurisdiction by reaching American companies that do not operate in the EU. It says the fine was based on the worldwide turnover of the businesses Musk controls, and that the December 2025 decision also targeted Musk himself and other companies he owns with no link to X.

The filing adds that the platforms covered by the DSA, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn, are headquartered in the United States and contribute significantly to its economy.

"We will not tolerate the European Commission engaging in regulatory overreach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth," said Brett Shumate, who heads the Civil Division of the Justice Department.

The first fine under the DSA

The €120 million penalty, issued on December 5, 2025, was the first ever imposed under the Digital Services Act, the EU rulebook that obliges online platforms to do more against illegal and harmful content and to be transparent about how their systems work. The Commission opened the case after a two-year investigation and split the fine across three findings: €45 million for the paid blue checkmark, which it says is presented as verification when users simply pay for the status; €40 million for restricting researchers' access to public data; and €35 million for an incomplete and inaccessible advertising repository.

In July, the Commission accepted X's plan to fix the data-access problems and gave the company six months to implement it.

Appeals and political tension

Musk and X filed their appeals at the General Court in February 2026. The challenge covers two cases, one brought by X Internet and X Holdings and one by Musk in his own name. They call the investigation "incomplete and superficial" and the Commission's reading of DSA obligations "tortured."

The intervention request is the latest escalation in a wider dispute over European tech rules. President Donald Trump has called the penalties "overseas extortion" and threatened tariffs on countries imposing digital regulation, which he said is designed to harm American technology. Vice President JD Vance has called the DSA's content-moderation rules "authoritarian censorship."

Under Article 40 of the EU Court of Justice's statute, a non-EU state may join a case only if it shows a direct interest in the outcome, a stricter bar than EU member states face. Whether Washington clears it is up to the judges in Luxembourg.