Elon Musk’s social media site X, formerly Twitter, is under fire in the EU following a two-year investigation into the platform’s practices. On Friday, the European Commission slapped the company with a 120 million euro ($140 million) fine for several breaches of EU regulations, including what it calls the “deceptive design” of X’s blue checkmark.
“On X, anyone can pay to obtain the ‘verified’ status without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account, making it difficult for users to judge the authenticity of accounts and content they engage with,” said the Commission in a press release. “This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors.”
Regulators found X to be in violation of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which governs the behavior of online platforms operating in the region. The Act does not require online services to verify people’s identities, but does oblige them not to use deceptive design practices.
This is the latest chapter in an ongoing power struggle between Europe and Silicon Valley tech companies, which often find the EU’s approach to regulation overly burdensome. The relationship has only become more strained following repeated criticisms from the current US presidential administration, which accuses the bloc of unfairly targeting and censoring US companies.
X didn’t respond to a request for comment about the fine, but Musk did repost an X post from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that said: “Once again, Europe is fining a successful US tech company for being a successful US tech company. Europe is taxing Americans to subsidize a continent held back by Europe’s own suffocating regulations.”
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A lack of transparency
Other breaches of the Digital Services Act that led to the fine include X’s failure to meet the EU’s transparency and accessibility requirements regarding its ad repository and its failure to provide researchers with access to public data.
TikTok dodged a similar fine on Friday, after the Commission accepted the company’s commitments to improving advertising transparency.
The European Commission’s tech chief, Hanna Virkkunen, defended the Digital Services Act and the decision to issue X a fine, stating that the DSA protects users and provides researchers with a means to uncover potential threats.
“The DSA restores trust in the online environment,” Virkkunen said. “With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”
The decision to fine X was praised by Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which X attempted to sue back in 2023 over its attempts to study the platform.
“Researchers must be free to study how powerful platforms shape our information environment,” he said. “X has tried to hide how it manipulates the algorithm and empowers hostile states, scammers and extremists. Now, European regulators have confirmed that this behavior is unlawful, and that transparency is not optional if X wishes to continue doing business in Europe.”
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