This is the first penalty imposed by the Community Executive Committee under a law Digital Services LawThis forces tech giants to combat illegal products and content circulating on their platforms.
Brussels insists the blue mark offered by X for payment violates the rules Ban misleading design Provided in the Digital Services Law, since then It makes it seem as if there is a real, verified user Behind the blue marked beads.
“In X, anyone can pay for “verified” status without the company meaningfully verifying the person behind the account, which It makes it difficult for users to judge the validity of accounts and the content they interact with,” claims the community executive.
“This is deception It exposes users to fraudincluding identity theft fraud, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors.”
While the Digital Services Act does not require verification of users, it clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification has been carried out, the Commission insists.
The penalty also includes two other illegal behaviors attributed by the European Commission to Elon Musk’s platform. First, X violated the obligation to provide A Public database Which allows you to view all advertisements published on the platform.
This is particularly important for analyzing fraudulent political ads circulating, for example, in the context of elections, according to Brussels.
Finally, the American platform does not respect this commitment Allowing researchers to analyze their data on a large scaleTo study influences such as polarization or dissemination of different types of content on the platform.
“Fooling users with blue check marksHina Virkkonen, the Commission’s vice-president responsible for digital sovereignty, said hiding information about ads and excluding researchers has no place on the EU internet.
“With this first decision not to comply with the Digital Services Act, we hold X responsible for undermining user rights and evading accountability,” Virkonen stressed.
However, no political official from the European Commission wanted to explain the reasons behind the fine at a press conference. The lack of accountability that has become common since Donald Trump returned to the White HouseWhich community leaders fear will anger them.
The fine was distributed as follows: 45 million for the blue mark, 40 million for difficulties in accessing the data, and 35 million for the ad warehouse.
The total of 120 million is a long way from the maximum penalty of 6% of annual turnover stipulated in the Digital Services Law. However, the community executive maintains that this fine is proportionate and dissuasive.
In addition to paying this fine, Elon Musk’s platform has now done so 60-day period to correct their illegal behavior in these three areas.
Brussels maintains another investigation open against This file has not yet reached a successful conclusion.
In parallel, the community’s executive council decided on Friday The case closed without fines against TikTok for its ad inventory. The reason is that the Chinese platform is committed to providing advertising warehouses that ensure complete transparency about the ads on its services.
“Since we discovered that TikTok’s ad inventory did not meet the standards of the Digital Services Act, TikTok has made a very full set of commitments that address our concerns,” community sources explain.