The European Union on Friday, imposed a $140 million ($120 million euro) fine on Elon Musk’s social media platform X for allegedly violating the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), marking the first enforcement action under the landmark legislation.

The penalty stems from three alleged violations: the deceptive design of its paid blue checkmark system, lack of transparency in its advertizing repository, and failure to provide researchers with adequate access to public data.

The EU’s European Commission claims that X’s blue checkmark system, which allows anyone to pay $8 per month for verification, misleads users by implying authenticity without meaningful verification, violating the DSA’s prohibition on deceptive design.

X was fined 45 million euros ($52.4 million) for the blue checkmark issue, 35 million euros ($40.7 million) for failing to maintain a transparent advertising database, and 40 million euros ($46.6 million) for blocking researchers from accessing public data.

The decision, announced on Friday, has triggered strong reactions from U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who accused the EU of targeting American tech companies, with Rubio claiming it was “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.”

"Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship" Vance wrote on X. "The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage."

Musk initially responded with dismissive remarks, calling the ruling “Bullshit.”

The Commission denied that the fine is censorship, and claimed it's a necessary step to protect users’ rights and restore trust in the digital environment, with EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen saying, “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU.”

Virkkunen added: “The DSA protects users. The DSA gives researchers the way to uncover potential threats. The DSA restores trust in the online environment. With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”

The investigation into X began in December 2023 and focused on the platform’s design, advertising practices, and handling of illegal content and information manipulation, with the latter probes still ongoing 

The EU can charge companies up to 6 percent of their global revenue for DSA violations. As X is a private company — purchased by Musk for $44 billion in October 2022 and again by his artificial intelligence company, X AI, in March 2025 for $33 billion — it’s unclear what its potential maximum penalty could have been.

X can appeal the fine, but now has 60 working days to inform the EU of the measures it will take to change the “deceptive” use of blue checkmarks, and 90 days for its planned fixes for the other violations. Failure to meet those deadlines could result in more penalty payments.

European lawmakers had reportedly deliberated how large a fine to issue as regulators sought to make an example of X as a warning to other companies while weighing the risks of sparking retaliation from President Donald Trump amid ongoing trade disputes. Musk, alongside the leadership of other US tech giants, has encouraged the president to stop the EU from taking advantage of US companies.

In contrast, TikTok avoided a penalty by pledging to improve its advertising transparency, highlighting the EU’s approach of encouraging compliance through negotiation.

"The 'EU' imposed this crazy fine not just on @X, but also on me personally, which is even more insane!," Musk wrote on X. "Therefore, it would seem appropriate to apply our response not just to the EU, but also to the individuals who took this action against me."

Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of popular YouTube rival Rumble, called for U.S. sanctions on the EU.

"The USA should sanction the EU immediately. Any country that violates our human right to free speech or imposes penalties to US companies exercising this right should feel the immediate wrath by the full power of the US government. Without free speech, we have nothing," Pavlovski wrote on X.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who has had his own dispute with European authorities, wrote on X: "The EU imposes impossible rules so it can punish tech firms that refuse to silently censor free speech. We saw the same in France: a baseless “criminal investigation”, then intelligence services offering to help with it if @telegram quietly censored speech in Romania and Moldova."

Netflix has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) film and television studios, along with its streaming platforms HBO Max and HBO, in a landmark $82.7 billion deal.

The transaction, valued at $27.75 per WBD share, will be completed after WBD finalizes its previously announced plan to spin off its global networks division—comprising CNN, TNT, Discovery, and other cable channels—into a separate publicly traded company named Discovery Global. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and shareholder votes.

The deal was reached after a competitive bidding war, with Netflix outbidding Paramount Skydance and Comcast.

Each WBD shareholder will receive $23.25 in cash and $4.501 in Netflix stock per share, with the stock component subject to a collar mechanism based on Netflix’s stock price at closing. The transaction is expected to be accretive to Netflix’s earnings per share by year two and generate at least $2–3 billion in annual cost savings by the third year.

Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters stated the merger will help define the next century of storytelling by combining Netflix’s global reach with Warner Bros.’ century-long legacy of content creation.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav will continue managing the company through the spin-off of Discovery Global until the deal closes.

Discovery Global, led by current WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, will include CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., Discovery channels, free-to-air European channels, and digital platforms like Discovery+ and Bleacher Report.

The separation of Discovery Global is now expected to be completed in Q3 2026, prior to the closing of the Netflix acquisition.

The deal has drawn attention for its potential regulatory scrutiny, with Paramount alleging an unfair bidding process and concerns over Netflix’s growing dominance in the streaming industry.

In his remarks Wednesday, at the Israel Hayom Forum—a high-profile conference hosted in New York City by the pro-Israel newspaper Israel Hayom (owned by casino mogul Miriam Adelson)—former U.S. Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Elan Carr urged Jewish communities in the U.S. to adopt a more aggressive stance against perceived "enemies" at home, drawing direct parallels to Israel's brutal military actions against its neighbors.

Israel Hayom Forum brought together prominent and controversial pro-Israel figures to discuss U.S.-Israel relations, antisemitism, and media narratives amid ongoing global revulsion at the Jewish nation's genocial war against Palestinians in Gaza. The event featured panels on countering anti-Israel sentiment, with speakers including former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, and others.

However, remarks by Carr and Hillary Clinton drew sharp backlash for their inflammatory tones toward critics of Israel and social media platforms like TikTok.

"We need to do to our enemies here what Israel did to its enemies there," Carr said. "No mercy, no hesitation. We've been too polite for too long—it's time to fight fire with fire, to dismantle the networks spreading hate against us on campuses, in media, and in the streets."

Carr framed this as a call for "unyielding defense" against rising antisemitism, citing incidents like campus protests and online anti-Israel sentiment, but critics interpreted it as advocating vigilante-style retaliation or suppression of dissent, evoking Israel's operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

Following backlash against him online, Carr later backtracked in a post on X, saying that he meant "legal and strategic countermeasures," not violence, but the damage was done.

Progressive and Palestinian Advocacy Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow condemned Carr's words as "inciteful rhetoric that blurs the line between self-defense and authoritarian crackdowns," accusing him of importing "occupation tactics" to U.S. soil. Carr's call for 'no mercy' mirrors the very dehumanization he claims to fight—it's a blueprint for silencing Palestinian voices here," JVP wrote on X.

Other critics labeled it a "dog-whistle for extremism," noting Carr's history with the Israeli American Council (IAC), which has ties to hardline Zionist policies.

The clip of Carr's remarks went viral on X within minutes, sparking #NoMercyCarr trends.

Reform Jewish leaders expressed alarm, with Rabbi Sharon Brous stating in a Haaretz op-ed: "This isn't leadership—it's escalation that endangers us all by fueling conspiracy theories about Jewish power."

Appearing via video link on a panel moderated by Israel Hayom editor Boaz Bismut, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed social media—particularly TikTok—for eroding support for Israel among young Democrats. In her 10-minute address, she argued that algorithms amplify "totally made up" content and "pure propaganda," leading to a "distorted" understanding of history.

"Where were our smart young people getting their information from? Social media—especially TikTok," Clinton said. "It's a problem for our democracy. These kids don't know Israel's history well; they missed the context. They're seeing videos of powerful Israelis hurting weak, skinny Palestinians, and they think the lesson of the Holocaust is to fight big, powerful people hurting the weak and powerless. That's not it—it's totally made up narratives promoted even by the Chinese Communist Party to undermine us."

Clinton called for a "counter-offensive" through education and traditional media to "pull youth back under reliable influences," admitting the establishment's failure to engage Gen Z effectively. She cited polls showing Democratic support for Israel dropping to 38% among under-30s (Pew Research, 2025), attributing it partly to TikTok's ownership by ByteDance.

The summit highlighted deepening divides over how to address shifting public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly among younger Americans.