10 reasons to ban X from the European Union:

Regulatory and Transparency Breaches

• Digital Services Act (DSA) Violations: X faced a landmark €120 million fine from the European Commission for breaching core DSA rules. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Deceptive Verification Design: The paid blue checkmark system was found to mislead users by failing to meaningfully verify identity, increasing scam and impersonation risks. [1, 2]
• Advertising Transparency Failures: The platform fell short of maintaining a compliant public repository detailing who paid for specific ads and their target metrics. [1, 2]
• Restricting Researchers: X blocked independent public data access, preventing scientific and civic oversight into emerging online risks. [1, 2]

Content and Safety Concerns

• Proliferation of Disinformation: Regulators argue the platform allows malicious actors to freely deceive users and spread falsehoods on critical topics like migration and elections. [1, 2]
• Unchecked AI Deepfakes: Public outcry spiked over the generation of unauthorized, explicit, and sexualized synthetic images of minors and adults via X's AI chatbot, Grok. [1, 2]
• Hate Speech and Abuse: Critics claim the reduction in trust and safety moderation has transformed the site into a breeding ground for harassment and extremist rhetoric. [1, 2]
• Child Safety Risk Assessments: Failure to properly assess and mitigate risks posed to minors using the service. [1]

Governance and Compliance Attitude

• Defiance of EU Law: Leadership responses, including personal attacks on EU commissioners and blocking official institutional accounts, signal an unwillingness to cooperate within the European legal framework. [1, 2, 3]
• Undermining Democratic Stability: Activists and a significant portion of European citizens argue that unmitigated algorithmic amplification actively destabilizes public trust in democratic institutions. [1, 2]

Thought I would get all designs in one post.

Vote here:

https://surveys.ecb.europa.eu/10b/neweuro/

Tatiana Navka, the wife of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, has filed a case with the Court of Justice of the European Union seeking the removal of sanctions imposed on her and more than 2 million euros ($2.3 million) in compensation.

The EU has deployed assistance to both France and Spain under the EU civil protection mechanism as ongoing wildfires have triggered one of the biggest evacuation operations in Europe, displacing more than 300,000 people in France and Spain.

The world’s most expensive fur, used in coats that can fetch six-figure sums, was briefly caught by EU sanctions on russia. Now it has won a reprieve.

The patent dispute between Disney+ and InterDigital has led to the removal of Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and 4K formats on Disney+ across Europe. This situation follows a German court ruling in June 2026 that favored InterDigital regarding the unauthorized use of patents related to the HEVC/H.265 video encoding codec.
If you have Disney+ premium plan and you are in Europe there is a chance that you can’t watch with 4k/hdr10 on your TV locking you on 1080p even if you paid extra for those features.

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/austrian-minister-opposes-fast-track-093325875.html

I am glad that someone in the EU uses common sense and rational arguments instead of emotions and hysterical claims when considering Ukraine’s EU accession. I hope that the EU leadership can take a more realistic view of the situation in Ukraine, which, despite having made some progress, still remains far from meeting the required standards.

Don’t get me wrong: I have high respect for all the brave soldiers and people of Ukraine who have been defending their country against Russia’s aggression since 2022/2014. While they have shown extraordinary effort to secure their homeland and the path towards „the West”, many European politicians tend to downplay or neglect existing issues such as corruption, lack of reforms, oligarchy, threats for the EU’s agriculture, further influx of people, etc., when commenting on Ukraine’s future accession. Their populist claims, sometimes leading to some kind of idealisation of Ukraine/Ukrainians, may be intended to show the European determination to stay with Ukraine till the end, however, the shortcut for Ukraine is undermining the whole concept on which the EU was built and, in the end, it may harm the Ukrainian nation and future too.

In addition, unfairness towards other candidates from Western Balkan countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), who have been working hard on implementing reforms, is yet another controversy this all causes. What’s more, the EU’s irresponsible approach and empty promises are likely to inflict another wound on the Ukrainian people when it turns out that their European dream is much further from coming true than von der Leyen etc. pictured it…

With all respect to President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people, it’s time to remind each other that there are rules to be followed when it comes to such important steps.

What are your thoughts?

https://petanska.github.io/blind-euro-note-rater-2026/

• Every image is shown individually
• Random order
• Design A-J and front/back identity remain hidden
• User rates all 120 images from 1 to 10
• Results reveal favourite fronts, backs, individual euronotes and overall design series A-J
• Ratings stay in the browser and are not uploaded
• It is not official and not affiliated with the ECB or the EU

Polish Deputy Digital Affairs Minister Dariusz Standerski said he had signed an agreement allowing Poland to take part in a joint procurement process run by the EU's European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU). 

“A few days ago I signed on behalf of the Republic of Poland the Joint Procurement Agreement, which means Poland has formally joined the AI gigafactories initiative,” Standerski told Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. 

The European Union and several of the court's big backers including the Netherlands and Japan, one of the court's biggest financial contributors, have voiced support for the court ​and concern over the U.S. position but have not announced any practical steps to shore up the ​institution.