The EU is considering including Elon Musk's business empire in calculating a possible fine of X

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Elon Musk could face a hefty fine as European regulators look to include revenue from the billionaire's business empire when calculating a possible fine against social media platform X.

Under the Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark law designed to set the rules for how technology companies monitor the internet, companies that fail to curb illegal content and disinformation face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual revenue sales revenue.

The European Commission is considering whether to include income from Musk's other companies, such as SpaceX and Neuralink, which would dramatically increase the potential penalty.

Although no final decision has been made, the EU wants to impose fines large enough to prevent X from repeatedly breaking the law, two people familiar with its thinking said.

Musk and X have come under intense scrutiny from regulators in Brussels. In 2023, the Commission opened an investigation into the social media platform for the spread of illegal content and disinformation, particularly terrorist and violent content, following the Hamas attacks on October 7 last year.

However, these people emphasized that the Commission had not yet decided to impose a fine on X and that the possible level of a fine was still being discussed. They added that the commission had not yet concluded that X had broken the law.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The social media platform has the opportunity to challenge possible fines. X could also take the EU to court if it considers the measures taken by the Commission to be unlawful, these people said.

AFP initially reported that the EU was considering including income from Musk's other businesses.

A Commission spokesman said: “The obligations under the DSA are directed at the provider of the very large online platform or the very large online search engine.” This applies regardless of whether the significant influence is on the platform or search engine a natural or legal person acts.”

Regulators said earlier this year that the practices of It also criticized the decision of

Other media platforms are also under scrutiny as the EU uses new powers granted by the DSA, which was approved last year and imposes new obligations on very large online platforms with more than 45 million users in the bloc. In May, the EU accused Meta of not doing enough to protect children from becoming addicted to social media platforms.