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Influential US officials have criticized the European Union’s decision to impose a $140 million fine on Elon Musk’s platform X.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: If you’re unaware, the EU has various laws designed to regulate Big Tech and “protect” European citizens’ rights in the digital space. A cornerstone to this is the Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates that large online platforms remove illegal content swiftly, increase transparency in advertising, and grant researchers access to platform data. Alongside it is the Digital Markets Act (DMA), targeting anti-competitive behavior by so-called “gatekeeper” companies, like self-preferencing or restricting user choice. These laws build on the GDPR, which has already resulted in massive fines (such as Meta’s €1.2 billion penalty for mishandling data transfers and Apple’s €500 million fine under the DMA for antitrust violations). These fines have pissed off American companies and US lawmakers, who argue that the EU is unfairly targeting American firms and extorting some of the largest US companies for money.

What’s going on now: Vice President JD Vance has criticized the European Union’s recent $140 million fine against X, calling it an attack on free speech and an act of “political censorship.” The fine was issued after EU regulators concluded that X violated multiple provisions of the Digital Services Act. According to the European Commission, the platform misled users by allowing anyone to purchase a blue checkmark without real identity verification, a move that regulators say fosters impersonation and fraud. They also cited X’s failure to provide a usable and transparent ad repository and its refusal to grant independent researchers access to public platform data, both of which are required under the DSA.

The European Commission’s tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, stated the decision was “proportionate” and designed to protect user rights, dismissing claims of censorship. X, meanwhile, has pushed back against the accusations. The company released a statement earlier this year saying it had “gone above and beyond” to comply with the DSA and framed the investigation as a politically motivated effort to suppress dissenting voices. Elon Musk himself responded on X, sharing a post supporting the GRANITE Act (a proposed US law allowing Americans to sue foreign entities over alleged censorship).

Vance wasn’t the only official to slam the EU. Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the US Federal Communications Commission, claimed the fine reflected Europe’s pattern of “taxing Americans to subsidize a continent held back by its own suffocating regulations.”