The European Commission rebukes Elon Musk after he likened the EU to Nazi Germany, escalating tensions between Brussels and the tech billionaire.
The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, posted a user's post on his X platform that included the EU flag peeled back to reveal the Nazi Germany flag with the comment, "Fourth Reich."
Musk gave his own endorsement when he shared the explosive photo on Saturday, commenting, "Pretty much."
The post appeared in the midst of Musk's growing confrontations with EU institutions following the American businessman's call for the EU's dissolution.
Musk has long been at odds with Brussels over the bloc's digital-services regulations, which he has frequently compared to censorship. Musk was an adviser in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump until May.
When the European Commission penalized X €120 million in the first significant penalty under the EU's Digital Services Act on Friday, citing several violations of transparency regulations, the conflict intensified dramatically.
European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier called Musk's remarks "simply absurd" in response to the Nazi analogy on Monday.
Musk's capacity to liken the EU to Nazi Germany, according to Commission top spokesperson Paula Pinho, simply served to highlight the existence of free expression in Europe, which "allows even the craziest statements you can imagine."
Regnier told reporters on Monday:
“X will have to pay that fine. The €120 million will have to be paid. We will make sure that we get this money,”
he added.
The billionaire's claim that the EU had singled him out for sanctions, he continued,
"makes no sense."
“The Commission does not impose fines on individual people,”
Regnier said, and the fines were based on
“the nature of the violation, its duration, frequency, and severity.”
X stopped the European Commission's advertising account on Sunday, alleging that the EU executive was trying to abuse an advertising tool to artificially increase the reach of its postings. This action was generally perceived as retaliatory.
Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, one of Musk's most well-known opponents in Europe, responded sharply to Musk's call for the "abolition" of the EU.
Shortly after Musk called for the disintegration of the EU on Saturday, Sikorski retaliated sharply against X, saying, "Go to Mars." Nazi salutes are not restricted there.
Sikorski's remark was a direct swipe at Musk's aspirations for space travel as well as a contentious hand gesture the billionaire made during Trump's January inauguration.
What sanctions has the European Commission proposed against Musk?
The European Commission assessed a €120 million ($140 million) fine on Elon Musk's platform X on December 5, 2025, under the Digital Services Act (DSA) for three translucency violations misleading blue checkmark design (paid verification obscuring authenticity), lack of announcement depository translucency, and denying experimenters public data pierce no particular warrants proposed against Musk himself.
45 million for deceptive paid colophons misleading druggies on account legality. Remaining €75 million fornon-transparent advertising and data blocks hindering misinformation studies.
Forfeitures limited below DSA's 6 global profit outside; Musk/ X must misbehave within weeks or face escalation, amid US pitfalls of tariffs retribution from Trump admin numbers like JD Vance/ Marco Rubio. Commission rebukes concentrated on commercial responsibility, not individual bans warrants on Musk despite Nazi Germany post; X plans legal challenge, calling it" suppression" discipline.