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Elon Musk’s X fined 5 million euros in Spain
Spanish regulators have taken decisive action against the social-media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, owned by Elon Musk, by imposing a fine of €5 million (about US $5.8 million) for failing to prevent unauthorised cryptocurrency advertising on its platform.
The penalty was issued by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), Spain’s national securities regulator, and was officially dated 3 November 2025, with the public announcement made on 13 November 2025.The fine underscores growing regulatory emphasis in Spain and across Europe on holding online platforms accountable for the promotion of financial products and ensuring advertisements are properly authorised and vetted.
Spain tightens crypto ad rules: X under fire for failing checks
In recent years, Spain has increasingly regulated the marketing of crypto-assets and other financial instruments on digital platforms. Since March 2023, online media, social networks and websites in Spain have been subject to rules requiring them to verify that advertisers offering financial services are authorised and not listed as warned or banned entities. The CNMV launched a formal investigation in November 2023 after detecting adverts for the crypto-investment company Quantum AI on X without proper authorisation.
The investigation found that X had failed to check whether Quantum AI was authorised in Spain or appeared on the CNMV’s or foreign regulators’ warning lists.
The fine and X’s violations
- The CNMV’s sanction was issued on 3 November 2025, and published in the Official State Gazette later that month.
- The specific breach: X, through its advertising mechanisms, allowed an unauthorised crypto-asset company (Quantum AI) to advertise investment services in Spain, without fulfilling its duty to verify authorisation status or check that the advertiser had been flagged by regulators.
- The fine of €5 million reflects the CNMV’s decision in a heavily publicised sanction letter, which described the violation in strong terms (the full classification is available in the CNMV’s official publication).
- X retains the right to appeal the decision before Spain’s highest administrative court.
Broader implications for X and digital-advertising platforms
- The sanction signals increased regulatory down-pressure on large social-media platforms to screen and monitor financial-product advertising, especially crypto-assets, which are vulnerable to fraud and regulatory arbitrage.
- For X specifically, the fine adds to a growing regulatory burden across Europe, where the platform is also under scrutiny under the Digital Services Act (DSA) for content-moderation and transparency failures.
- Advertisers and platforms alike may face increased compliance costs, especially in jurisdictions where authorisation, listing checks, and ad-transparency obligations are tightening.
What this means for users and advertisers
- Spanish advertisers of financial-product services, including crypto trading, investment advice and similar offerings, now face sharper obligations to ensure authorisation and regulatory transparency.
- Users of X in Spain should note that unauthorised financial-product advertising may appear on the platform despite regulatory efforts, and they are encouraged to exercise caution, verify advertiser credentials independently, and rely on official authorised-provider lists maintained by the CNMV.
- For platform operators, the ruling imposes a clear duty to implement compliance workflows verifying advertiser authorisation and cross-checking lists of warned entities, along with maintaining transparency about ad partners and financial-product campaigns.
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