Justice Department Files to Intervene in EU General Court for X and Musk Against the Commission's €120,000,000 DSA Fine (T-114/26, T-121/26)

On September 24, 2026 the Justice Department announced that the United States had filed an application to intervene before the EU General Court in Luxembourg, in support of X’s and Musk’s challenges to the European Commission’s DSA fine. The release names the cases as X Internet and X Holdings v. Commission, T-114/26, and Musk v. Commission, T-121/26. Both seek to annul the Commission’s decision of Dec. 5, 2025, which imposed a fine of €120,000,000 jointly and severally.

Shumate statement. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, head of the Civil Division, said the Commission “inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction.” The release adds that the United States has concerns about how the Commission decided who is the provider of the service, which it ties to the “corporate veil” principle, and about the Commission reaching Musk personally and other U.S. companies.

Basis and coordination. The release cites Article 40 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, under which a State may intervene where it can establish an interest in the result of the case. It says the Department of Justice coordinated with the Department of State on the application, and calls this the first case challenging a DSA enforcement action to reach the General Court.

What is not shown. The release does not report whether the General Court has admitted the United States as an intervener, and no ruling is recorded here. The underlying EU proceedings are the subject of the sister entry 2026-01-26–eu-opens-dsa-proceedings-on-grok-in-x-and-recommender-systems-ip-26-203.

Disclosure. Claude, which drafted this entry, is made by Anthropic, a competitor of xAI.