Elon Musk is the owner of social media platform X.
Aitug Khan Senkar | Anadolu | Getty Images
A $140 million fine against tech tycoon Elon Musk’s social media platform highlights how European countries are undermining U.S. policy while demanding military protection from the United States, one of America’s top diplomats wrote on Saturday.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials, criticized the European Union’s fine on Musk’s X as censorship. But Mr. Landau went further than Mr. Rubio by bringing up broader ideological and strategic concerns.
Landau posted on X that differences between the EU and the Trump administration on many issues undermine the idea of partnership with the US despite the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The EU’s regulatory stance could undermine the security and values shared by Western countries, Landau wrote.
“When these countries don the NATO hat, they claim that transatlantic cooperation is the basis of our mutual security,” Landau posted. “But when these countries put on the EU hat, they often end up pursuing all sorts of agendas that are completely contrary to the national interests and security of the United States…This contradiction cannot continue.”
The X fine announced on Friday is the first major enforcement action under the EU’s Digital Services Act. European regulators said Company X’s reasons included a deceptive Blue Check verification system, insufficient transparency in advertising records, and a refusal to allow researchers access to publicly available data.
Landau’s criticism, along with previous opposition from Rubio, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, reflects U.S. government concerns about the impact of European digital regulations on American companies.
Rubio and Carr said the fine showed bias against U.S.-based technology companies, with Rubio calling it an attack on Americans by a foreign government and an act of censorship of Americans online.
Adding to the uproar, billionaire entrepreneur Musk, who was once a close ally of President Donald Trump before the national rift, called for the abolition of the European Union in a post on his platform on Friday.
EU officials said they were protecting users from deception, fraud and misinformation, and that Company X’s status as a U.S. company had nothing to do with the decision to impose the fine.
Tensions have surfaced as the Trump administration signals dramatic changes in U.S.-European relations within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as it seeks to maintain unity amid broader geopolitical challenges.
The Trump administration is pushing to increase defense spending in Europe, but its approach has seen mixed signals toward NATO, from criticism of burden-sharing to rare praise for allies’ efforts.
Landau, the No. 2 US diplomat, previously questioned the need for NATO in a June post about X, which he later deleted.
