The European Commission targeted the tech billionaire’s social network with its first-ever fine under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The account tick marks and advertising policy do not respect EU law, the Commission said.
The European Commission slapped a €120 million fine on Friday on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, for the first time under its landmark Digital Services Act following a two-year investigation.
At the centre of the probe is the blue checkmark, previously used to signal official accounts at no cost but now sold for €7 a month, which risks confusing users about the veracity of identities.
Under the new X settings, an account with a checkmark may not signal a real user and could instead be a bot, the Commission said. As a result, it decided to impose a financial penalty for a breach of the EU’s DSA rules.
Secondly, the Commission found that X did not comply with the transparency obligation for advertising on social media platforms, blurring the line between advertising and content that could lead to financial scams for users.
The Commission argued that users and authorities cannot access an updated register of advertisers on the site, which could also be problematic during election campaigns, as the origin of the claims is unclear.
