European Union regulators are preparing to fine Elon Musk’s X up to $1 billion for breaking its notorious Digital Services Act in a move likely to ratchet up tensions with the United States, according to the New York Times.

The penalties are set to include a fine and demands for product changes, said [four people with knowledge of the plans], who declined to be identified discussing an ongoing investigation. These are expected to be announced this summer and would be the first issued under a new EU law intended to force social media companies to police their services, they said.

European authorities have been weighing how large a fine to issue X as they consider the risks of further antagonising Mr Trump amid wider trans-Atlantic disputes over trade, tariffs and the war in Ukraine. The fine could surpass $1 billion, one person said, as regulators seek to make an example of X to deter other companies from violating the law, the Digital Services Act.

EU officials said their investigation into X was progressing independently from tariff negotiations after Mr Trump announced major new levies this week. The investigation began in 2023, and regulators last year issued a preliminary ruling that X had violated the law.

The European Union and X could still reach a settlement if the company agrees to changes that satisfy regulators’ concerns, the officials said.

X also faces a second EU investigation that is broader and that could lead to further penalties. In that investigation, two people said, EU officials are building a case that X’s hands-off approach to policing user-generated content has made it a hub of illegal hate speech, disinformation and other material that is viewed as undercutting democracy across the 27-nation bloc.

Worth reading in full.