X Blocks EU Ad Account following $140 Million Fine

In Brief

• X has suspended the European Union’s advertising account for deceptive ad promotion.
• The move follows a recent $140 million EU fine against X over alleged Digital Services Act violations.
• The incident has sparked debate, with critics highlighting perceived hypocrisy in the EU’s actions.

Shedrach Kongvong 2025-12-07

In what seems to be a retaliatory action, the X platform has blocked the ad account of the European Union (EU). This is coming after the European Commission placed a heavy $140 million on the platform which the U.S. disagreed with.

According to an X post, the EU had paid for an ad to promote an announcement on X which it tried to present as a video to get wider reach. X allegedly found out and suspended the account as a penalty for violating the rules on the platform.

BREAKING: 𝕏 has terminated the European Commission’s Ad Account.

EU paid to promote its announcement on 𝕏 and used a trick that disguised a link as a video so the ad would get extra reach. They fined 𝕏 for being deceptive while using a deceptive method to push their own ad. pic.twitter.com/iRlHHp2NNJ

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) December 7, 2025

Is EU Account Suspension on X a Coincidence?

The European Commission last week slapped X with a $140 million fine for allegedly violating the Digital Services Act (DSA). The agency said that X violated the act through its “deceptive blue checkmark” and lack of transparency in its advertising repository by failing to meet the transparency and accessibility requirements of the DSA.

It further stressed that accessible and searchable ad repositories are critical for researchers and civil society to detect scams, hybrid threat campaigns, and others. However, X incorporates design features and access barriers, such as excessive delays in processing, which undermine the purpose of ad repositories.

In response to the fine, U.S. chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr said Europe was fond of putting fines on American tech companies just because they are successful and not due to actual violation.

X users have responded to the news, some of them saying that the EU putting a fine on X for being deceptive in its advertising and then turning around to violate ad rules and getting suspended is an irony in regulatory enforcement.

EU Faces Criticism for Violating X Rules

The action of the EU in trying to gain more exposure by being deceptive on X has been widely criticized by X users. According to them, such an action suggests that the agency doesn’t care about safety policy but rather about X not letting it cheat alone.

“When the digital sheriff the machine of elite impunity (the unelected; a bureaucracy with a flag: ISN’T DEMOCRACY) fines X for “deception” while running its own ad with a deceptive trick, that’s not safety policy: that’s a cartel punishing anyone who won’t let it cheat alone.”

Several other U.S. companies have faced similar fines from the EU, including Apple and Meta which vowed to contest an $840 million fine imposed on it by the agency last year.