Trump administration takes Musk’s side in fight over EU tech rules
Trump administration takes Musk’s side in fight over EU tech rules
特朗普政府在欧盟科技法规之争中站在马斯克一边
The Trump administration is seeking to join Elon Musk’s appeal against a €120 million EU fine of the billionaire’s social media platform X, the latest escalation in the transatlantic clash over Brussels’ efforts to rein in US tech companies. 特朗普政府正寻求加入埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）的行列，对欧盟针对其社交媒体平台 X 开出的 1.2 亿欧元罚单提出上诉。这是布鲁塞尔方面试图约束美国科技公司而引发的跨大西洋冲突的最新升级。
The US Department of Justice on Thursday filed an application to intervene in a pair of cases brought by Musk and X seeking annulment of the penalty, which will be heard at the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg. 美国司法部周四提交了一份申请，要求介入马斯克和 X 公司提起的两起诉讼。这两起诉讼旨在撤销该项罚款，并将由位于卢森堡的欧盟普通法院审理。
“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction,” assistant attorney general Brett Shumate said. “We will not tolerate the European Commission engaging in regulatory overreach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth,” Shumate added. “欧盟委员会不适当地试图扩大其监管权力，以触及那些不在其管辖范围内、也未在其管辖范围内运营的美国公司，”助理司法部长布雷特·舒马特（Brett Shumate）表示。“我们绝不容忍欧盟委员会进行监管越权，试图控制美国的创新和经济增长引擎，”舒马特补充道。
The European Commission in December last year fined X €120 million for breaking the Digital Services Act, the first such penalty under the bloc’s online safety regime. It accused the platform of breaching its regulations for transparency, providing insufficient access to data and the deceptive design of its blue-tick system for verified accounts. 去年 12 月，欧盟委员会因 X 公司违反《数字服务法》（DSA）对其处以 1.2 亿欧元罚款，这是该欧盟在线安全机制下的首笔此类罚款。欧盟指控该平台违反了透明度规定，未能提供足够的数据访问权限，并对其认证账户的“蓝勾”系统进行了欺骗性设计。
The DSA, a more aggressive set of rules to police online players, has become a flashpoint between Brussels and US tech companies. Donald Trump’s administration has supported claims by US companies that the EU is unfairly targeting American groups and infringing freedom of speech principles championed by the Maga movement. 《数字服务法》是一套旨在监管在线平台的更激进规则，已成为布鲁塞尔与美国科技公司之间的冲突焦点。唐纳德·特朗普政府支持美国公司的说法，即欧盟在不公平地针对美国企业，并侵犯了“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）运动所倡导的言论自由原则。
Several senior figures of the administration, including US Vice President JD Vance, have criticized the EU’s fining X. Musk is one of the largest donors to President Trump and his favored Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections. 包括美国副总统万斯（JD Vance）在内的多位政府高层人士都批评了欧盟对 X 的罚款。马斯克是特朗普总统及其在中期选举前支持的共和党候选人的最大捐款人之一。
In its statement, the DOJ said the DSA had improperly “extended legal scrutiny to Mr. Musk himself as a private individual and implicated entirely separate and unrelated American corporate entities under his ownership.” 美国司法部在声明中表示，《数字服务法》不适当地“将法律审查范围扩大到了马斯克个人，并牵连了他名下完全独立且无关的美国企业实体。”
The DOJ also asserted that the Commission inappropriately calculated the fine based on the combined global annual revenue of other companies that Musk controlled, rather than what X earned within its jurisdiction. 司法部还断言，欧盟委员会在计算罚款时，不适当地基于马斯克控制的其他公司的全球年度总收入，而非 X 公司在其管辖范围内的收入。
In March 2025, X was first merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which was subsequently acquired by his rocket maker SpaceX ahead of its public listing in June this year. SpaceX declined to comment. 2025 年 3 月，X 公司首先与马斯克的人工智能公司 xAI 合并，随后在今年 6 月上市前被其火箭制造公司 SpaceX 收购。SpaceX 对此拒绝置评。
Separately, the EU is investigating X for other potential breaches under the DSA, including whether the company has assessed and mitigated risks associated with the integration of its AI chatbot Grok into X for EU users. 另外，欧盟正在调查 X 公司在《数字服务法》下的其他潜在违规行为，包括该公司是否评估并减轻了将人工智能聊天机器人 Grok 集成到 X 中对欧盟用户所带来的风险。
Apple is also appealing a €500 million fine imposed under the EU’s related Digital Markets Act for anti-competitive behavior in its app store. Trump has railed against the penalties, calling them “overseas extortion” and called them a “form of taxation.” During his first administration, the president unsuccessfully tried to influence Apple’s challenge against a €13 billion Irish tax bill. 苹果公司也正在对欧盟根据相关的《数字市场法》对其应用商店的反竞争行为处以的 5 亿欧元罚款提出上诉。特朗普对这些罚款进行了猛烈抨击，称其为“海外勒索”，并称其为“一种税收形式”。在他第一个任期内，这位总统曾试图干预苹果公司对爱尔兰 130 亿欧元税单的挑战，但未获成功。