The EU hit X with a €120 million fine in December, the first penalty ever issued under the Digital Services Act. Nine months later X sits at #1 among news apps in nearly every European country. That sequence keeps repeating. The mechanism behind it is worth tracing. App charts rank fresh installs. Usage barely moves them. So the hardest problem for a 19-year-old app is giving lapsed users a reason to reinstall, and every enforcement action against X does exactly that. A fine lands on the…