In order not to annoy Trump: Brussels allegedly lets DSA procedure rest against X

As long as the trade talks are underway with the US government, the EU Commission will apparently not announce what has resulted in the investigation into possible violations of the short instigation X against the digital services Act (DSA). This reports the Financial Times Citing several initiated persons. As soon as there is clarity about which trade barriers there will be between the United States and the EU in the future, a decision could therefore be made in the procedure. Nobody wants to annoy US President Donald Trump and tighten existing trade conflicts, the newspaper continues to quote. It is advantageous that the DSA does not provide a deadline for a decision.

Massive punishment possible

For X, several procedures in Brussels run due to possible violations of the DSA. Among other things, it is about dealing with that blue hook that paying users received, but who was used for verification when X was called Twitter and did not belong to Elon Musk. Furthermore, the Commission accuses the social network lack of transparency in advertising and lack of support for science. In April, the New York Times reported that Brussels prepared a massive penalty of more than one billion US dollars. This should be decided by the summer. In order not to make negotiations with the USA difficult, this is now on ice.

The procedure against X is the first important attempt to enforce the specifications of the digital service act and has developed into a point of dispute with the current US government. Behind the scenes, the Musk company allegedly submitted hundreds of contradictions that the EU Commission edited. Elon Musk had announced that they wanted to fight every punishment in a decided manner and in public. A source told the New York Times that the intended punishment could also be so enormous because it should be set up an example and other corporations are to be held by its own DSA violations.

With the DSA, the EU obliges platforms on the Internet to produce more transparency about the moderation of the content and advertising. The most extensive duties apply to very large online platforms (VLOPs), X has been considered one since April 2023. Because Musk took the service from the stock exchange, only estimates are known for sales under his leadership – X is subject to Brussels towards information. The turnover is decisive for determining a possible punishment; With X it would not be enough for a billion dollar penalty. According to the report of the New York Times, however, it was considered in Brussels to include further directly controlled companies of the owner for the calculation. In Musk’s case that would be SpaceX.