THE 48 HOURS THAT SHOOK GLOBAL POWER
December 5: The European Union hits X with a €120 million fine — the first major penalty under the Digital Services Act.
December 7: The owner of X responds by publicly calling for the abolition of the EU.
> “I mean it. Not kidding.”
The post racks up 8 million views, 194,000 likes, and rising.
This isn’t a typical tech-policy dispute.
This is the owner of the world’s biggest digital public square — and an active U.S. government advisor — openly urging the collapse of a political union representing 450 million people and a €17 trillion economy.
The chain reaction:
Fine delivered → Ads suspended → Institution abolition demanded.
Three moves. Two days.
The most direct challenge to Europe’s post-war order by a private individual since 1945.
Why this moment is unlike any billionaire backlash before:
He owns the communication platform
He advises the U.S. president
He controls satellite networks
He builds the rockets
He can move markets with a single post
The EU has no app store to ban, no data center to shut down, no lever of influence beyond regulation. And the person they sanctioned just told 600 million monthly users that Brussels shouldn’t exist.
If the EU escalates: they confirm every accusation of overreach.
If they retreat: they imply they’ve lost regulatory authority.
If they ignore it: they risk looking irrelevant.
No option is clean.
The debate is no longer: Are platforms too powerful?
It is now: Is anyone powerful enough to regulate them?
We’re watching 20th-century institutions collide with 21st-century infrastructure — in real time.
The tribunal has been dismissed by the defendant.
What happens next has no playbook.
