Elon Musk says EU should be abolished after $140 million fine on X

Elon Musk responded to the European Union's penalties against his social media site, X, by tweeting to his 230 million followers that the EU should be "abolished."

Following a high-profile probe viewed as a test of the EU's willingness to police Big Tech, the social media platform owned by the world's richest person was fined 120 million euros ($140 million) on Friday for violating the bloc's digital regulations.

The penalty was promptly condemned by the US administration of Donald Trump, who, as president, collaborated with Musk on a contentious drive to reduce the federal staff and save spending before the two fell out.

Musk personally weighed in after the fine was announced by writing on his X account: "The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people."

When a user reposted Musk's comment, he responded, "I mean it. Not kidding."

"I love Europe, but not the bureaucratic monster that is the EU," he added in another post, AFP reported.

The European Commission's fine against X was the first imposed on content under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission determined that X violated the DSA's transparency commitment.

The infractions include the platform's false "blue checkmark" for apparently verified users, as well as the inability to provide researchers with access to public data, according to the report.

The Commission also stated that X had not been properly transparent in its advertising practices.