X (formerly Twitter) filed a landmark legal challenge Monday to a $140 million fine imposed by the European Commission under the European Union’s Digital Services Act—a sweeping censorship regime that uses American technology companies to impose European speech restrictions on users worldwide, including in the United States.
Filed at the General Court of the European Union, the appeal marks the first-ever judicial challenge to a fine issued under the DSA, giving EU courts their first opportunity to examine whether the law’s enforcement complies with fundamental rights and the rule of law. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys in the U.S. and internationally are providing support on the challenge.
“The EU Commission is targeting X for a simple reason: X is committed to free speech, and the Commission demands censorship,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President of Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco. “Americans need to understand what is at stake. The DSA was built for global speech control, and the speech it controls is yours—on the platforms you use every day.
“The platforms the DSA targets—including X, Google, Meta, and others—are the modern public square. They are where Americans debate politics, share their faith, and hold the powerful accountable. The EU’s Digital Services Act is designed to control what can be said in that square, and its reach does not stop at Europe’s borders.”
The Commission issued the fine in December, alleging transparency and procedural violations—claims X disputes. In its filing, the company argues that the Commission improperly stretched the law’s requirements and acted as regulator, investigator, prosecutor, and judge all at once, denying basic fairness and accountability.
Adopted in 2022, the DSA is a regulatory framework that enforces the restrictive speech codes of EU member states—including Germany, which arrests and prosecutes citizens for mocking politicians—across the globe. The DSA threatens 16 American-owned platforms with fines of up to 6% of their global annual revenue for violating vague, easily weaponized standards such as “hate speech” and “disinformation.”
ADF attorneys have long warned of the censorship concerns the DSA poses to online users across the globe, including in the U.S. On Feb. 4, ADF International Legal Counsel Lorcán Price testified for the second time in the past year at the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, alerting lawmakers that the Commission’s decision to fine X and its owner Elon Musk represent a turning point in E.U. speech codes governing Americans’ online speech.
In 2024, Musk withstood pressure from E.U. Commissioner Thierry Breton to self-censor prior to his live X interview with President Donald Trump. Musk’s refusal to comply with Commissioner Breton’s demands stands in stark contrast to the House Judiciary Committee’s recent findings that American tech companies met over 90 times with E.U. Commissioners to adopt restrictive “community guidelines” between 2022 and 2024.
“If the EU can dictate what Americans say online, free speech becomes a privilege granted by foreign bureaucrats—not a right,” said Tedesco. “This case is the front line. Citizens, lawmakers, and companies who value open debate must stand with X and insist that the digital public square remains free.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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