- EU fines X with its first Digital Services Law for €120 million/$140 million
- It relates to the blue check mark, ad transparency, and research data.
- Musk calls for the abolition of the European Union
The European Commission has fined social media platform
Europe’s concerns include the lack of transparency of the platform’s advertising repository and the lack of access to researchers’ public data. The block also criticized X’s blue checkmark scheme for being misleading to users.
AX, owned by Elon Musk, has been given 60 days to address concerns about the blue checkmark and 90 days to provide an action plan for advertising transparency and access to research data.
X fined €120 million in Europe under the Digital Services Act (DSA)
Failure to meet the European Commission’s remediation deadlines could see Musk’s platform face ongoing fines.
Regarding the advertising of Repositories play an important role in detecting scams, hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations, and fake ads, many of which could be loaded with malware or lead to identity theft.
For researchers, X’s terms “prohibit eligible researchers from independently accessing your public data.”
The EU also noted that X does not carry out sufficient verification of accounts requesting the blue paid check mark. It is misleading because “[the DSA] clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place.”
Although the case has been approximately two years in the making and investigations began in December 2023, this landmark case marks the first fine under the DSA.
“With the first DSA non-compliance decision, we hold X accountable for undermining user rights and evading responsibility,” said Henna Virkkunen, senior vice president of technology sovereignty, security and democracy.
The US ambassador to the EU, Andy Puzder, said the fine was “excessive” and “targeted American innovation”.
“The Trump administration has been clear: we oppose censorship and will challenge burdensome regulations that affect American companies abroad,” Puzder said, anticipating “fair, open and reciprocal trade” with the EU.
In response to Virkkunen’s X post, Musk responded: “You love censorship more than life itself.”
On the other hand, 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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