According to The Verge, on Friday, the European Commission hit X with a €120 million fine, roughly $140 million, for violating the Digital Services Act (DSA). This marks the first-ever penalty levied under the new law. Elon Musk responded on X by simply posting “Bullshit” in reply to the Commission’s announcement. The next day, Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, accused the Commission of abusing an exploit to artificially boost the reach of its penalty announcement. Bier then stated that X had responded by shutting down the European Commission’s advertising account on the platform. The sequence of events sets a remarkably confrontational precedent for DSA enforcement.
The New DSA Playbook
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just about a fine. It’s about the playbook for how these fights will go down from now on. The EU drops a historic, first-of-its-kind penalty. The regulated platform, in this case X, doesn’t just dispute it legally—it uses its own platform power to retaliate in a very public, very immediate way. Shutting off an ad account is a power move. It’s a statement that says, “You might regulate us, but we control the gates to your audience on our turf.” And that creates a whole new layer of messy, real-time conflict beyond the courtroom.
A Preview of Things to Come
So what does this mean for the future? Basically, we’re getting a preview. The DSA is designed to rein in the biggest platforms, and X is essentially testing the limits of how much pushback is possible. Musk’s “Bullshit” post and the ad account shutdown are a one-two punch of rhetorical dismissal and operational retaliation. It sends a clear signal to other regulators: fines might be coming, but so will a public relations and platform-access war. I think we’re going to see this pattern repeat. The question is, will other platforms be this brazen, or will they take a more conciliatory, corporate-lawyer approach?
The Exploit Accusation Is Key
Now, let’s talk about Nikita Bier’s exploit accusation. That’s a fascinating tactical pivot. By claiming the EU abused a platform tool to amplify its own bad news about X, the company tries to reframe the narrative. It’s no longer just “X broke the law.” It becomes “The regulator is also breaking the rules of our platform.” It attempts to create a moral equivalence, or at least muddy the waters. Whether that’s a valid claim or not almost doesn’t matter. It’s a strategic counter-narrative designed for the court of public opinion, which Musk and his team clearly value as much as, if not more than, the legal one. This whole saga feels less like a regulatory procedure and more like a street fight. And it’s probably just the first round.
