- The EU issues its first Digital Services Act fine to X for €120 million/$140 million
- It relates to the blue tick, ad transparency and research data
- Musk calls for the abolition of the European Union
The European Commission has fined social media platform X 120 million euros (about $140 million) for breaching transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Europe’s concerns include a lack of transparency in the platform’s advertising inventory and the inability to provide researchers with access to public data. The block also criticized X’s blue tick for being misleading to users.
X, owned by Elon Musk, has been given 60 days to resolve blue-tick issues and 90 days to provide an action plan for ad transparency and access to research data.
X fined €120 million in Europe under the Digital Services Act (DSA)
Failure to comply with the European Commission’s remedial timeframes could result in Musk’s platform facing ongoing fines.
Regarding X’s announcement, the EU noted that the platform “incorporates design features and access barriers” like processing delays, which “prevent researchers and the public from independently investigating any potential risks.” Stores play an important role in detecting fraud, hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations, and false advertising—many of which can be loaded with malware or lead to identity theft.
For researchers, X’s terms prohibit “qualified researchers from independently accessing their public data.”
The EU also noted that X does not perform sufficient checks on accounts applying for the paid blue tick. It is misleading because “[the DSA] clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified when such verification did not occur.”
Although the case has been around two years in the making, with investigations starting in December 2023, this landmark case is the first fine under the DSA.
“With DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we hold X accountable for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability,” commented Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy SVP Henna Virkkunen.
The US ambassador to the European Union, Andy Puzder, said the fine was “excessive” and “targeted at American innovation.”
“The Trump administration has been clear: We oppose censorship and will challenge burdensome regulations that target American companies abroad,” Puzder said, foreseeing “fair, open and reciprocal trade” with the EU.
In response to Virkkunen’s X post, Musk replied: “You love censorship more than life itself.”
Separately, Musk wrote: “The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries so that governments can better represent their people.”
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