The European Commission (EC) took aim at Elon Musk’s X, fining the social media company €120 million for breaching its transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

It stated breaches include the “deceptive” design of X’s blue tick, a lack of transparency in its advertising repository and a failure to provide access to public data for researchers.

The EC stated using the tick for verified accounts deceives users and violates DSA obligations for online platforms “to prohibit deceptive design practices on their services”. The regulator pointed out anyone could pay to obtain verified status without the company meaningfully proving who is behind the account.

On the second point, the EC explained X’s advertisement repository fails to meet DSA transparency and accessibility requirements, adding these are critical for researchers and civil society to detect scams and other threats.

Thirdly, the EC stated X fails to meet DSA obligations around access to public data, with its terms of service restricting eligible researchers, while its processes for researchers imposes unnecessary barriers.

Garbage
The sum of fine was calculated by considering the nature of the infringements, their gravity in terms of affected European Union (EU) users and their duration.

X has 90 days to submit an action plan to address its alleged infringements, however Musk already indicated he will oppose the penalty.

US Vice President JD Vance hit out at the fine, writing on X the EU should be “supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage”.