The Trump administration is supporting Elon Musk and X’s legal challenge against the European Union’s €120 million fine, seeking permission to intervene in the case before the EU’s General Court. The US says its involvement is necessary to protect American technology companies from what it calls European regulatory overreach, escalating existing tensions between Washington and Brussels over digital regulation.

The fine, imposed under the EU’s Digital Services Act after a two-year investigation, found that X misleadingly presented paid blue-check users as verified, maintained an inadequate advertising database and restricted researchers’ access to public data. Musk and X appealed in February, alleging an incomplete investigation, distorted interpretation of the law and unfair treatment; the EU has since accepted X’s plan to improve data access, giving it six months to comply.