Starlink Watch

The Musk tracker

Elon Musk and governments worldwide

A sourced record of 212 statements and actions by Elon Musk and his companies since 2022: interventions in the politics, governments, courts and regulation of 43 countries and the European Union, threats and legal action against critics, and the use of market power against competitors. Each entry sets out what he said or did, the background, the response and what happened next.

Compiled by Starlink Watch editors · Updated

212entries
44countries and the EU
147with an official response
35with a fact-check or court finding
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63 entries: Fights with regulators and courtsClear filters

Confrontations with national regulators, courts and laws over his companies.

2026 39

Regulators and courts

Judge approves $1.5 million SEC settlement over Musk's Twitter stake disclosure despite 'misgivings'

Musk resolved the SEC's Twitter disclosure suit through a settlement under which a revocable trust in his name pays a $1.5 million civil penalty; the SEC dropped its claims against Musk personally and its demand for about $150 million in disgorgement.

Response: Judge Sooknanan approved the deal despite its significant misgivings, writing that the SEC's decisions raise red flags but the court may not step in the shoes of the SEC (Bloomberg).

United States2 sources
Regulators and courts

Musk calls South Africa's B-BBEE rules 'extremely racist'; Ramaphosa says 'Our laws are not racist'

In an exchange on X with foreign ministry official Clayson Monyela, Musk called B-BBEE extremely racist and wrote: Racism should not be rewarded, no matter to which race it is applied. He alleged Starlink had been denied a licence because he is not Black…

Response: President Ramaphosa said: Our laws are not racist. They are empowerment laws meant to uplift people who were discriminated against, and called singling out BEE laws quite dishonest.

South Africa4 sources
Regulators and courts

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines temporarily block X's Grok over sexualised AI images

Indonesia temporarily blocked the Grok chatbot, followed by Malaysia the next day and the Philippines on 16 January, citing sexualised deepfake images generated from real photos.

Response: AP reported that requests for comment to xAI received an automated reply reading Legacy Media Lies. Malaysia's regulator said X's replies relied mainly on user reporting.

IndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippines3 sources
Regulators and courts

Amid Grok deepfake row, Musk asks 'Why is the UK government so fascist?' as Ofcom investigates X

As ministers threatened action over sexualised images generated with X's Grok AI, Musk wrote They want any excuse for censorship and Why is the UK government so fascist?

Response: Technology Secretary Liz Kendall called the images despicable and abhorrent and backed Ofcom's powers; Starmer told a meeting of Labour MPs If X cannot control Grok, we will (Express & Star). Ofc…

United Kingdom5 sources

2025 5

Regulators and courts

After €120m DSA fine on X, Musk says the EU 'should be abolished'

After the European Commission fined X, Musk wrote that The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries and described it as a tyrannical, unelected bureaucracy. He also reposted an image equating the EU flag with a Nazi flag.

Response: Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said such practices have no place online in the EU; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the fine an attack on American platforms.

European Union2 sources
Regulators and courts

X reaches settlements with laid-off staff and ex-executives who said Musk denied promised severance

X disclosed a tentative settlement of a proposed class action by former employees claiming $500 million in unpaid severance after Musk's 2022 layoffs of about 6,000 people. In early October 2025 it also settled a $128 million suit by ex-CEO Parag Agrawal and…

Response: Musk and X denied wrongdoing and said the executives were fired over their performance.

United States3 sources
Regulators and courts

X challenges India's content-blocking process and Sahyog portal in Karnataka High Court

X Corp filed a writ petition arguing that the government's use of Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act created an unlawful parallel blocking system bypassing Section 69A, and called the Sahyog portal a censorship tool.

Response: The government argued Section 79(3)(b) is valid, that safe harbour is conditional on acting on notices, and that as a US company X cannot invoke Article 19 free speech rights.

India3 sources

2024 15

Regulators and courts

SpaceX sues California Coastal Commission, alleging political bias against Musk in launch vote

SpaceX sued the California Coastal Commission after it voted 6-4 on 10 October 2024 against the Space Force's plan to raise SpaceX launches at Vandenberg from 36 to 50 a year, alleging overt, and shocking, political bias and violations of Musk's free-speech…

Response: The commission declined to comment on the lawsuit (CNN). In 2026 it said it continued to have serious concerns about the impacts to coastal resources from increased rocket launches at the base (Cou…

United States2 sources
Regulators and courtsPost

Musk calls FAA's proposed SpaceX fines 'lawfare', says SpaceX will sue, then demands FAA chief resign

After the FAA proposed $633,009 in civil penalties against SpaceX, Musk called it More lawfare and wrote that SpaceX would sue the FAA for regulatory overreach. On 25 September he posted that FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker needs to resign.

Response: FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols said Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences (Axios). Whitaker told a House subcommittee that fines are the agency's o…

United States4 sources
Regulators and courts

Musk replies 'Fascists' to Australia's proposed misinformation law

Musk replied Fascists to a post linking a report on the Australian government's bill to fine platforms up to 5% of global revenue for enabling misinformation.

Response: Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the bill improves the transparency and accountability of platforms. Minister Bill Shorten said "Elon Musk's had more positions on free speech than the…

Australia3 sources
Regulators and courts

Brazil's Supreme Court suspends X nationwide and freezes Starlink's local bank accounts

Justice Moraes ordered the immediate suspension of X after it failed to name a legal representative in Brazil, a day after freezing Starlink's Brazilian accounts to cover X's fines on the grounds the companies were part of the same economic group.

Response: Musk accused Moraes of having repeatedly broken the laws he has sworn to uphold. A Supreme Court panel upheld the suspension. President Lula told CNN Brasil: "o mundo não é obrigado aguentar o vale…

Brazil6 sources
Regulators and courts

Musk answers EU Commissioner Breton's DSA warning before Trump interview with an expletive film meme

After Commissioner Thierry Breton published a letter warning Musk against amplifying harmful content during his live X interview with Donald Trump, Musk replied on X with a meme from the film Tropic Thunder containing explicit language.

Response: The Commission told the Financial Times the letter's timing and wording were not coordinated or agreed with President Ursula von der Leyen; X CEO Linda Yaccarino said it treated EU citizens as 'incap…

European Union2 sources
Regulators and courtsPost

Musk says European Commission offered X an 'illegal secret deal' after preliminary DSA breach findings

After the Commission issued preliminary findings that X breached the Digital Services Act, Musk wrote that it had offered X an illegal secret deal to quietly censor speech in exchange for no fine, and said X looked forward to a very public battle in court.

Response: Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on X: There has never been — and will never be — any secret deal. With anyone, adding that the DSA lets platforms offer commitments to settle a case.

European Union2 sources
Regulators and courts

Musk calls Australia's eSafety Commissioner a 'censorship commissar' over stabbing video order

After Australia's eSafety Commissioner sought global removal of video of a Sydney church stabbing, and the Federal Court ordered the footage hidden pending a hearing, Musk described Commissioner Julie Inman Grant as the Australian censorship commissar.

Response: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Musk an arrogant billionaire who thinks he's above the law (AP) and told Sky News that Musk thinks he's above the law and above common decency.

Australia3 sources
Regulators and courts

X withholds accounts in India under government orders during farmers' protest, says it disagrees

X's Global Government Affairs account said the Indian government had issued executive orders to act on specific accounts and posts, and that we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions.

Response: No official government statement was reported; media cited a Hindustan Times report that MeitY ordered 177 accounts and links blocked across several platforms.

India2 sources
Regulators and courtsPost

Delaware court voids Musk's 2018 Tesla pay package; Musk tells companies never to incorporate in Delaware

After Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick voided his 2018 Tesla pay package, Musk posted Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware and polled followers on moving Tesla's incorporation to Texas. On 1 February he wrote that companies should leave Del…

Response: Legal scholars quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer disputed Musk's framing; Tulane law professor Ann Lipton said his losses would not have happened had Tesla followed basic corporate-governance forma…

United States2 sources

2023 4