The European Commission has issued a substantial fine of €120 million against the platform X, previously known as Twitter, for serious breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA). This penalty is significant as it represents the EU’s first formal non-compliance decision under the DSA, a landmark regulation adopted in 2022 that aims to establish a safer and more accountable online environment across the European Union. The investigation leading to the fine spanned two years and focused on the platform’s measures for combating information manipulation and the dissemination of illegal content, with preliminary findings having been shared with X in July 2024.
Regulators determined that X had violated key transparency requirements of the DSA in multiple areas. One of the primary violations identified was the platform’s misleading ‘blue checkmark’ system for ‘verified accounts.’ The Commission stated that this system is deceptive because accounts can purchase the badge without any meaningful verification of identity. This practice makes it challenging for users to assess the true authenticity of an account, which subsequently increases their exposure to potential fraud and manipulation.
Furthermore, the Commission found that X also failed to maintain a fully transparent advertising repository as mandated by the DSA. The platform’s advertising database lacked the necessary accessibility features and imposed excessive processing delays. These deficiencies significantly hinder efforts by third parties to detect and combat issues such as scams, false advertising, and coordinated influence campaigns operating on the platform. The platform also created unnecessary barriers that prevented researchers from accessing public platform data, which is essential for studying systemic risks faced by users within the European Union.
According to Henna Virkkunen, the bloc’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, actions like “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU.” She emphasized that the DSA protects users and provides researchers with the necessary means to uncover potential threats, stating that the law “restores trust in the online environment.” This first non-compliance decision, she added, holds X “responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”
X, which was designated as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the DSA in April 2023 after reporting over 45 million monthly active users in the EU, has been given a strict timeline to remedy the identified violations. The Commission has given X 60 working days to address the blue checkmark violations. Additionally, the platform must submit action plans within 90 days to fix the issues related to researcher access and advertising transparency. The Commission warned that failure to comply with these deadlines could trigger further periodic penalties.
Reference:
