Social media giant X has been fined 120 million euros ($140 million) for breaching transparency obligations in the European Commission’s latest challenge to major U.S. tech companies.
The commission said Friday that violations include “the deceptive design of the ‘blue check mark,’ lack of transparency in advertising repositories, and failure to provide researchers with access to publicly available data.”
The ruling follows a two-year investigation under the Digital Services Act (DSA), adopted in 2022 to regulate online platforms. The European Commission said failure to comply with the decision could lead to the payment of fines.
“Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, hiding information in ads, or locking out researchers has no place online in the EU,” said Hena Virkunen, executive vice president for technology sovereignty, security and democracy.
“With DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X accountable for violating users’ rights and shirking responsibility.”
Mr. X has been contacted for comment.
Musk’s social network currently has 60 days to tell the commission how it intends to address the issue of “deceptive” blue checkmarks, and 90 days to submit a plan to resolve issues with its advertising repository and give researchers access to public data.
“Failure to comply with non-compliance decisions may lead to the payment of periodic fines,” the commission said in a statement.
The fines come a day after the commission announced it would investigate: meta It violated antitrust rules regarding a new policy on granting AI providers access to WhatsApp.
In recent months, the U.S. has been pressuring Europe to loosen or abandon regulations on big tech companies, including the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and other AI regulations under consideration.
