Musk's empire risks getting into EU cross hairs for potential X fines

The European Union (EU) has warned X that it may calculate fines against the social-media platform by including revenue from Elon Musk's (pictured) other businesses, including Space Exploration Technologies Corp and Neuralink, an approach that would significantly increase the potential penalties for violating content moderation rules.

- GIAN VOLPICELLI & SAMUEL STOLTON

Under the EU's Digital Services Act, the bloc can slap online platforms with fines of as much as 6 per cent of their yearly global revenue for failing to tackle illegal content and disinformation or follow transparency rules. Regulators are considering whether sales from SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company, in addition to revenue generated from the social network, should be included to determine potential fines against X, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information isn't public.

The European Commission has been investigating X for several potential breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA), newly introduced rules meant to ensure platforms police illegal content.