The European Union (EU) has hit X, Elon Musk’s social media company, with a roughly $140 million fine for violating one of the EU’s content moderation laws.
The European Commission said in a Friday statement that X utilizing a “blue checkmark” for “verified accounts” on the social media platform “deceives users,” adding that this breached an obligation under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) for online platforms to “prohibit deceptive design practices on their services.” This notably marks the first time that a company has been fined under the bloc’s DSA.
“Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU,” Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a statement. “The DSA protects users. The DSA gives researchers the way to uncover potential threats. The DSA restores trust in the online environment. With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”
The commission also cited X’s advertisements having a “lack of transparency,” according to the news release. The EUlater added that X was guilty of using “deceptive design,” per the announcement.
Musk’s social media company now has a 60-day deadline to present the commission with specific measures it plans to take to bring to end its infringement of the DSA obligation, according to the commission.
Vice President JD Vance blasted the EU ahead of the fine announcement in a Thursday night X post.
“Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship,” Vance wrote in the social media post. “The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage.”
Musk later replied to Vance on his platform, writing, “Much appreciated.”
The EU has recently weighed scaling back its regulatory crackdown on major tech companies, The New York Times reported on Nov. 17. Some experts previously warned the Daily Caller News Foundation that the EU’s DSA, which took effect in August 2023, could ultimately hinder Americans’ speech online.
In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized the EU’s data laws as censoring social media platforms, but the bloc pushed back against his claims, labeling them as “misleading.”
When reached for comment, a European Commission spokesperson referred the DCNF to the EU’s Friday press release and a clip of its midday briefing where this topic was discussed. Musk could not immediately be reached for comment.
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