From Lisbon, Green leader Bas Eickhout issued a fiery challenge to Washington and Silicon Valley, urging for strict EU action on US Big Tech as US officials and Elon Musk attacked a €120 million X penalty for breaching Digital Services Act (DSA) transparency rules, he told Politico.
Eickhout, in the European Parliament, on the sidelines of the Green Party’s annual congress in the Portuguese capital. The EU Commission imposed a fine on X for violations of the DSA, specifically stating the “deceptive” design of the blue checkmark (changed from verification to a paid feature), lack of transparency in its advertising, and failing to provide public data access to researchers as given by the law.
Eickhout dismissed the financial penalty as “nothing” for a billionaire like Musk and urged the EU executive to be “tougher” in its implementation of the law.
The Transatlantic Digital Divide and Censorship Claims
The EU’s move began a strong political problem across the Atlantic, with US officials framing the digital regulations as an attack on American business and free speech. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted the find and stated that, “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments,” and accused Brussels of “censorship.”
Similarly, Musk indicated his “response to the penalty” would target the EU officials who imposed it. This pushback from Washington has been consistent, with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau arguing that the EU’s regulatory stance could damage shared Western security and values.
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen has insisted the law “has nothing to do with censorship,” emphasizing that the penalty is about transparency and holding major platforms accountable.
European Green Party chair Ciarán Cuffe strongly criticized the alliance between US officials and tech giants, blasting, “It’s not good when our former allies in Washington are now working hand in glove with Big Tech.”
Eickhout emphasized while arguing that the EU “should be proud of our policies… we are the only ones fighting American Big Tech” who he claims are “killing freedom of speech in Europe.” The Greens have historically accused platforms like Meta and X of amplifying “disinformation” and “extremism” and interfering in European electoral processes.
EU Transparency Rules Push for Strategic Autonomy
The heated tech battles are just one dimension of a growing rift, highlighting Europe’s transparency rules urgent drive for strategic autonomy, especially in the face of what some perceive as US neglect. Eickhout lamented that European governments are too slow to condemn the US moves against the EU.
He argued that Washington’s recent national security strategy which only devotes a tiny section to Europe and explicitly commends far-right “patriotic” parties across the continent makes clear the objective is to divide Europe from within by fueling these groups.
This US policy shift, which President Donald Trump once stated he would back European political candidates who align with his vision, has analysts noting a growing “ideological gulf.”
An international security program fellow at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, Leonard A. Schuette, stated that “For Trump, however, Europe seems increasingly irrelevant or, on a bad day, even an adversary.” Liana Fix, a senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations, concluded that the new Strategy “marks the end of the transatlantic alliance based on liberal values.”
Faced with this geopolitical tensions, reality and US tariff threats, Europe is increasing its defense budgets and expanding joint military cooperation to decrease its dependency, with Eickhout stating, “I want to see urgency on how Europe is going to take its own path and not rely on the U.S. anymore, because it’s clear we cannot.”
Transparency rules are growing its technological growth through strict data regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EU AI Act, investments in privacy enhancing technologies, and widespread enterprise adoption of synthetic data tools.
By using AI responsibly and allowing secure cross border data collaboration, the EU is building a compliant, innovation driven digital ecosystem.
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