SpaceX, Elon Musk’s other companies could be on the hook for X fines

Allowing disinformation to spread on X, formerly Twitter, may cost Elon Musk a lot more money than he bargained for.

The European Union has warned X that it may calculate fines levied against the company for breaking EU law based on the total revenue of Musk’s companies instead of just his social media platform, according to Bloomberg.

Under the EU’s Digital Service Act (DSA), which went into effect in 2022, social media platforms are responsible for addressing illegal content and disinformation on their service. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to 6 percent of a company’s yearly global revenue.

The European Commission announced late last year that it was formally investigating X “to assess whether X may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.” 

Just this past summer, then-EU commissioner Thierry Breton shared that it was their “preliminary view” that blue checkmarks deceive users since Musk depreciated the old verified system in favor of a paid subscription service.

What this means for Musk and company

If the European Commission ultimately decides to penalize X, the monetary sum of such a fine could be much bigger than Musk had anticipated.

EU regulators would not only factor in X’s revenue when tallying a financial penalty, but also the revenue of Musk’s other companies like SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and Boring Company. According to Bloomberg‘s report, Tesla’s revenue would not be factored into the equation as it is a publicly traded company and not entirely controlled by Musk.

A 6 percent fine, as delineated under the DSA, based on X, SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and Boring Company’s combined revenue would be a much larger penalty than one based just on X’s revenue.

With the EU weighing its decision to include all of Musk’s companies when calculating a fine, it seems that the European Commission is essentially holding Musk accountable for the decisions that have led to X breaking EU law. 

Musk often butted heads with Breton on social media over the EU’s investigation into X. However, last month, Breton suddenly stepped down from his role as EU commissioner. Without Breton in the picture, the decision on how to fine X falls to the European Commission’s Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager.