X fined $140 million for breaching EU rules, Elon calls for bloc abolition

• EU issues its first Digital Services Act fine to X for €120 million/$140 million
• It relates to the blue checkmark, ad transparency and research data
• Musk calls for the abolition of the European Union

The European Commission has fined social media platform X €120 million (around $140 million) for breaching transparency obligations set out under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Europe’s concerns include a lack of transparency of the platform’s advertising repository and failure to provide researchers with access to public data. The bloc also criticized X’s blue checkmark scheme for being deceptive to users.

X, owned by Elon Musk, has been given 60 days to address blue checkmark concerns, and 90 days to provide an action plan for ad transparency and research data access.

X fined €120 million in Europe under the Digital Services Act (DSA)

Failure to comply with the European Commission’s remedial timeframes could see Musk’s platform face ongoing penalty payments.

Regarding X’s advertising, the EU noted that the platform “incorporates design features and access barriers” like processing delays, which “hinders researchers and the public to independently scrutinize any potential risks.” Repositories play an important role in detecting scams, hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations and fake advertisements - many of which could be loaded with malware or lead to identity theft.

For researchers, X’s terms “prohibit eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data.”

The EU also noted that X fails to conduct sufficient verification for accounts applying for the paid blue checkmark. It’s deceptive because “[the DSA] clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place.”

Even though the case has been about two years in the making, with investigations starting in December 2023, this landmark case denotes the first fine under the DSA.

“With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability,” Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy SVP Henna Virkkunen commented.

US Ambassador to the EU Andy Puzder said the fine was “excessive” and “targeting American innovation.”

“The Trump Administration has been clear: we oppose censorship and will challenge burdensome regulations that target US companies abroad,” Puzder said, anticipating “fair, open, & reciprocal trade” with the EU.

Responding to Virkkunen’s X post, Musk responded: “You love censorship more than life itself.”

Separately, 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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