US Vice President JD Vance criticised the European Union on Thursday over its expected move to fine X, saying the bloc should not penalise platforms for refusing to “engage in censorship.” In a post on X, Vance asked the EU to not target American firms over what he described as ‘garbage,’ and urged them to support ‘free speech.’“Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship. The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage,” he said.According to The Capitol Forum, the European Commission is preparing to issue its first-ever sanction under the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the coming days, and possibly as early as Friday. Two people with direct knowledge of the discussions told the Forum the final timing and size of the penalty were still being debated within the Commission.The expected fine is not related to content takedowns but to alleged violations on advertisement transparency, data access and deceptive design, the sources told The Capitol Forum. Last year, the Commission issued preliminary charges accusing X – formerly Twitter – of deceiving users through its blue checkmark system, arguing that the verification badge did not allow users to make informed choices about the accounts they interact with.The upcoming action is expected to be modest in size, but it would mark the EU’s first enforcement step under the DSA, a law that significantly expands obligations for large online platforms operating in the bloc.
