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Elon Musk’s social media company X is at risk of facing huge fines from the EU over transparency issues, such as giving regular users a “tick” that is reserved for verified users.
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, said on Friday that X was “violating” the EU’s Digital Services Act, which came into force this year and aims to strengthen monitoring of online content.
In preliminary findings of an investigation launched last year, the E.U. maskThe company was acquired two years ago for $44 billion, allowing anyone to pay to get the blue checkmark, thus duping millions of users.
“Anyone can register and obtain such ‘verified’ status, which has a negative impact on users’ ability to make free and informed judgments about the authenticity of accounts and the content they interact with,” the Brussels regulator said.
X can defend itself, but if the EU findings are upheld, the company faces fines of up to 6% of its global revenue. In 2021, the last year for which Twitter has published revenue, the company It made $5.1 billion..
“The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: secretly censor speech without telling anyone and don’t fine them. Other platforms accepted the deal, but X did not,” Musk posted to X on Friday. He did not provide further details about the censorship deal.
Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, responded later on X: “Please enjoy. Elon MuskThere never have been, and never will be, any “secret deals” with anyone.
“DSA offers X the possibility to offer an undertaking to settle the case. More specifically, it was *your* team that explained the settlement process to the committee and asked them to clarify their concerns. It’s up to you to offer an undertaking or not. This is how the rule of law process works. See you again (in court or not).”
The DSA imposes a range of new responsibilities on major online platforms, including requiring them to publish regular reports on the removal of illegal and harmful posts and offering opt-outs from targeted advertising.
Brussels added that Company X’s practices do not comply with the DSA in a number of areas, including prohibiting the use of dark patterns (deceptive techniques used to manipulate user behavior), transparency in advertising, and allowing researchers appropriate access to data.
“In the past, a blue cheque meant a trusted source,” said France’s Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
“With regard to X, our preliminary view is that the company has misled users and violated the DSA. We also believe that X’s advertising repository and the terms of researcher access to data are not consistent with the DSA’s transparency requirements.”
“Company X currently has a right of defence, but if our position is confirmed we will likely impose fines and require significant changes.”
The Financial Times reported in October that Company X Investigating violations EU digital rules.
