Elon Musk's X fined €120m for breaching EU digital laws

(Sharecast News) - The European Commission said on Friday that it has fined Elon Musk's X €120m for breaching EU digital laws. The Commission opened formal proceedings in December 2023 to assess whether X - formerly Twitter - may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA).

It said on Friday that the breaches uncovered include the deceptive design of its 'blue checkmark', the lack of transparency of its advertising repository, and failure to provide access to public data for researchers.

As far as the 'blue checkmark' is concerned, the Commission noted that anyone can pay to obtain the status without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account, making it difficult for users to judge the authenticity and content they engage with.

"This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors," it said. "While the DSA does not mandate user verification, it clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place."

In addition, the EC said the advertisement repository fails to meet the DSA's transparency and accessibility requirements.

"Accessible and searchable ad repositories are critical for researchers and civil society to detect scams, hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations and fake advertisements," it said.

It pointed out that X incorporates design features and access barriers, such as excessive delays in processing, which undermine the purpose of ad repositories.

It also said the ads repository lacks critical information, and that X failed to meet its DSA obligations to provide researchers with access to the platform's public data.

Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said: "Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU.

"The DSA protects users. The DSA gives researchers the way to uncover potential threats. The DSA restores trust in the online environment. With the DSA's first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users' rights and evading accountability."