Based on preliminary investigation results, the EU Commission believes that the short messaging service X (formerly Twitter) is violating the Digital Services Act (DSA) and threatens serious penalties. EU supervisors are paying particular attention to the blue tick that paying X users receive. In addition, the Commission accuses Elon Musk’s company of lack of transparency in advertising and lack of support for science.
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The commission gave this information today The EU Commission made the announcement in Brussels on Friday afternoon,
“Blue tick deceives users”
EU observers accused X of using the blue tick for “verified accounts” “not in line with industry practice” and deceiving users. “Since anyone can subscribe to such a ‘verified’ status, this affects users’ ability to make independent and informed decisions about the authenticity of accounts and the content they interact with,” Brussels said.
The blue tick is no longer for verified accounts. Twitter used to give the blue tick – and thus credibility and a certain status (“blue check”) – to certain verified accounts of celebrities or institutions. Since Elon Musk took over, the X symbol is now for users who pay for the service and can therefore use some additional functions.
In addition, the Commission criticizes that X does not comply with the DSA’s transparency requirements regarding advertising. The law obliges platforms to maintain a user-searchable database of all advertisements for one year. The solution provided by The Commission’s third point of criticism is insufficient access to research projects.
The Digital Services Act obliges large platforms such as Facebook or X to create greater transparency regarding the moderation of content and advertising. In April 2023, the Commission classified X as a very large online platform (VLOP), making it subject to the new law. In December, the Commission officially launched proceedings against X. The EU Commission has also launched proceedings against Meta (Facebook and Instagram), AliExpress and TikTok.
The process is not yet complete
The Commission emphasizes that no decision has yet been made on proceedings against X. “X now has the right to defend itself, but if we confirm our view we will impose a fine and require significant changes,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
With the preliminary results presented, the process moves to the next stage. X can now respond to the allegations, deny them or take remedial action. This will allow the US company to avoid a potential fine. If the commission imposes a fine, the company can take it to court.
Fines for DSA violations can be up to six percent of annual global sales. However, only estimates are known about X’s current sales since Musk delisted the company from the stock exchange in October 2022. The last stock market year 2022 has seen sales of about US$4.4 billion. According to unconfirmed media reports, sales will drop to $3.4 billion in 2023 – and the trend continues to decline.
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