Musk's X platform fined €120 million by the EU! Blue check, ads, and data violate the Digital Services Act

On December 5, the European Commission officially announced a €120 million (approximately $140 million) fine against Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), citing multiple violations of the transparency requirements under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). (Previous context: Is the EU’s crypto regulation moving toward centralization? New proposal aims for Europe’s ESMA to have full authority over the crypto industry) (Background: EU reportedly fines Google €2.95 billion for “antitrust violations,” marking Google’s fourth fine in the past decade.)

On December 5, the European Commission officially announced a €120 million (approximately $140 million) fine against Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), citing multiple violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) transparency requirements. Notably, this is the first fine imposed on X since the DSA officially came into effect in 2023.

Three major violations by X platform

The EU’s investigation into the X platform began in December 2023 and lasted two years, primarily focusing on systematic deficiencies in content moderation and user protection measures. The EU identified three main violations by X:

First, X’s paid Blue Verified badge program is misleading and fails to effectively verify account authenticity, making it difficult for users to distinguish real accounts from fake ones and leaving them vulnerable to scams or information manipulation.

Second, X failed to establish a complete and searchable ad database as required by law. As a result, researchers and regular users cannot effectively track the sources and targets of political and scam advertisements, severely impacting oversight of systemic risks on the platform.

Third, X deliberately set up unnecessary barriers, refusing to grant qualified researchers lawful access to publicly available platform data, thus hampering academia and regulatory agencies from assessing the risks of illegal content and misinformation spreading within the EU.

Investigation ongoing

Regarding this penalty, EU Commissioner for Technology Henna Virkkunen emphasized that the punishment “is not about censorship” but is purely to ensure compliance with digital regulations: “As long as the rules are followed, there will be no fines.” Virkkunen also stated that future investigations by the EU into other major platforms will be faster and more efficient.

Additionally, the EU warned that a broader investigation into X is still underway, covering issues such as the dissemination of illegal content and the management of misinformation. If X fails to implement corrective measures within the given deadline, subsequent fines could reach up to 6% of its global annual revenue, far exceeding the current fine.

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This article “Musk’s X Platform Fined €120 Million by EU! Blue Check, Ads, and Data Violated the Digital Services Act” was first published by BlockTempo, the most influential blockchain news media.