EU Commissioner announces tough course for US companies

The EU is taking action against US tech companies. The US government then threatened severe consequences. But the Union does not want to be intimidated.

Despite massive attacks from the USA, EU Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen has announced that she will consistently apply the European digital rules towards large tech companies. “I will enforce our digital laws,” Virkkunen told Stern magazine. The latest fine against Platform X is a sign of this. The digital commissioner emphasized that the laws are intended to protect citizens and children against online dangers and for fair competition.

In response to the punishment against X, its owner, tech billionaire Elon Musk, spoke out in favor of abolishing the EU. He also compared the Union to Nazi Germany and instructed his employees at X to immediately ban the EU Commission from advertising on the platform – because of alleged violations of X’s guidelines.

US President Trump also commented. He described the punishment as “horrible” and said the EU had to be “very careful”. Experts continue to view the alliance between tech boss Musk and the most powerful man in the world – Trump – critically. “The intent here is clear: to intimidate the regulators,” Martin Husovec, a legal scholar at the London School of Economics, told the New York Times. “Allying yourself with the president of the United States can stop European regulators from doing their job.”

However, the EU had already emphasized on Tuesday that it wanted to stick to its own rules and enforce them “without discrimination”. “As we have made clear on several occasions, our regulations apply equally and fairly to all companies operating in the EU,” said European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier.

The Office of the White House Trade Representative had previously accused the EU on online service X of using “harassment through litigation, taxes, fines and guidelines” against US service providers. If this continues, the Trump administration will have “no choice but to use all the tools at its disposal.” Important European companies were named as the target of the retaliation, including the German shipping service DHL, the German industrial group Siemens and the Swedish music streaming service Spotify.