NEW YORK, Dec 7, Xinhua): US tech billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday blasted the European Union (EU) for a fine slapped on his social media platform X for violating transparency rules, warning that his response would target the officials responsible for the penalty. "The 'EU' imposed this crazy fine not just on (X), but also on me personally, which is even more insane!" the Tesla CEO 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." He followed up with another post, saying, "The EU should be abolished." The EU's decision has already drawn sharp rebukes from US officials, who depicted the fine as an assault on broader free speech rights and claimed US companies are being unfairly targeted, local media reported.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose additional tariffs on the EU if it continues to penalize US tech giants. The European Commission on Friday imposed a fine of 120 million euros (about 140 million US dollars) on X for violating its transparency obligations under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).

The penalty stems from three distinct breaches of the DSA, including the deceptive design of X's blue checkmark, lack of transparency in its advertising repository, and the platform's failure to provide researchers with access to public data.

The use of the "blue checkmark," which any user can obtain by paying, to designate "verified accounts" exposes users to scams, including impersonation fraud and other forms of manipulation, according to the Commission. It added that X's advertisement repository fails to meet the DSA's transparency and accessibility requirements, and that the platform also falls short of its obligation to provide researchers with access to its public data.