One of the most significant American diplomats wrote on Saturday that the imposition of a $140 million fine on the social media platform of tech magnate Elon Musk highlights the way Europeans undermine U.S. policies despite expecting the United States to offer military protection.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other U.S. officials criticised the European Union’s fine on Musk-owned X as censorship. Therefore, Landau did more than Rubio by claiming larger ideological and strategic concerns.
Landau posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the EU’s disagreements with the Trump administration on several matters erode the concept of a partnership with the United States, regardless of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Landau wrote that the regulatory position of the EU may be detrimental to Western security and values. Landau posted that “When these countries wear their NATO hats, they insist that Transatlantic cooperation is the cornerstone of our mutual security. But when these countries wear their EU hats, they pursue all sorts of agendas that are often utterly adverse to US interests and security … This inconsistency cannot continue.”
The X fine, reported on Friday, is the first major enforcement measure under the EU’s Digital Services Act. European regulators indicated they referred to X as a misleading blue-check verification mechanism, insufficient transparency with regard to advertising records, and denial of access to public data by researchers.
The Landau’s criticism and previous objections by Rubio, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr reflect Washington’s worries about the effects of the European digital regulations on American firms.
Rubio and Carr claimed that the fine was discriminatory to the U.S.-based technology companies, whereby Rubio regarded it as an attack on the American populace by the foreign regimes and an act of censorship against Americans online.
Even further, billionaire entrepreneur Musk, who was a close ally of President Donald Trump before a public falling out, in a Friday post on the platform, demanded the abolition of the EU.
EU officials have cited that they were shielding users against misleading, fraudulent, and false information and that the fact that X was a U.S. company had no bearing on their choice to impose a fine.
The concerns come after the Trump administration indicated that there are drastic changes in the U.S.-Europe relations in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as it tries to keep unity in the wake of broader geopolitical hardships.
Although the Trump administration has argued to spend more on European defense, its attitude has been characterized by ambivalence towards NATO, which has occasionally been characterized by criticisms of burden sharing, to occasional praise of allied efforts.
Landau, the second-ranking diplomat in the U.S. government, had already doubted the necessity of NATO in a June post on X, which he deleted later.
