European Commission temporarily suspends proceedings against platform X (formerly Twitter) concerning violations of Digital Services Act (DSA). The reason is not a deficiency of legal basis, but geopolitical calculation — it is about maintaining good trade relations with the Donald Trump administration, which returns to the political phase with a threat of customs duties on European goods.
The investigation against X concerned, among others, the deficiency of transparency of advertising and the deficiency of cooperation with external researchers. Under average conditions, this could consequence in financial sanctions akin to those imposed by the EC on Apple and Meta by another act — Digital Markets Act (DMA). However, if DSA The Commission is more free to interpret and can hold the procedure without formally losing control of the process.
The temporary waiver of X is intended to aid keep a dialog with Washington on import duties, which, according to fresh signals from Trump's staff, can scope up to 30%. The Commission does not want to supply arguments about Europe's "anti-business attitude" towards American companies just before the trade summits.
However, this is simply a advanced stakes game. X already questions the legality of the EC proceedings, and in parallel there are further problems, including possible violations of the GDPR and the issue with the chatbot Grok belonging to x.AI, which according to reports promoted anti-Semitic content. In the background, political force is increasing, besides from associate States specified as Poland.
Thus, Brussels balances between digital sovereignty and diplomatic pragmatism — and on a very thin line.
