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The European Commission (EC) has imposed its first fine under Europe\u2019s landmark Digital Services Act<\/a> (DSA), and it\u2019s against Elon Musk\u2019s X.<\/p>\n The EC is taking issue with the fact that X has been allowing anyone to buy a \u201cblue checkmark,\u201d the platform\u2019s long-standing symbol which used to indicate that a user has been verified to be who they are claiming to be.<\/p>\n Calling the design of the blue checkmark system \u201cdeceptive,\u201d the European Union\u2019s executive arm on Friday imposed a fine of \u20ac120 million (about $140 million) on X, saying the company had breached its transparency obligations under the DSA. <\/p>\n The Commission said other breaches of the law include a lack of transparency of X\u2019s advertising repository and failure to provide researchers access to public data.<\/p>\n Before Musk bought<\/a> the company, Twitter used to issue blue checks to journalists, celebrities, politicians, and public figures on the platform after it had verified their identity. Musk did away<\/a> with that policy in 2023, and all the \u201cverified\u201d blue check today indicates is that a user subscribes to X Premium, and that they meet certain eligibility criteria, like having a profile photo, a display name, and have linked their account to a phone number.<\/p>\n \u201cX\u2019s use of the \u2018blue checkmark\u2019 for \u2018verified accounts\u2019 deceives users,\u201d the Commission wrote in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThis violates the DSA obligation for online platforms to prohibit deceptive design practices on their services. On X, anyone can pay to obtain the \u2018verified\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The Commission added that such a system exposes users to scams, impersonation fraud, and manipulation.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> The regulator also found that X\u2019s advertisement repository doesn\u2019t comply with DSA requirements for transparency and accessibility, saying the company imposes excessive delays in processing requests for access. The Commission also said the ads repository doesn\u2019t house important information like the content or topic of ads, as well as who paid for those ads.<\/p>\n \u201cThis hinders researchers and the public to independently scrutinise any potential risks in online advertising,\u201d the Commission wrote.<\/p>\n Access to public data is another area of concern for the EU. The DSA mandates that public platforms allow researchers access to public data to study systemic risks, and the EC\u2019s investigation has found that X does not allow researchers to independently do that.<\/p>\n \u201cMoreover, X\u2019s processes for researchers\u2019 access to public data impose unnecessary barriers, effectively undermining research into several systemic risks in the European Union,\u201d the EC wrote.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n