European Commission fines X $140 million over blue checkmark, lack of transparency

""Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU. ... With the DSA's first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users' rights and evading accountability, said Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy for the commission, in a statement.""

""Rumours swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship," he wrote. "The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage.""

""On X, anyone can pay to obtain the 'verified' status without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account, making it difficult for users to judge the authenticity of accounts and content they engage with," the commission press release said, adding it makes users more vulnerable to scams and fraud.""

European Commission fined X $140 million for breaching the Digital Services Act by failing to verify 'verified' users, lacking advertising transparency, and refusing researchers access to data. The fine is the first non-compliance decision under the DSA, a 2022 EU law designed to protect users online. The commission said selling blue checkmarks without meaningful identity verification increases vulnerability to scams and makes account authenticity difficult to judge. The commission announced preliminary findings from the investigation in July. The penalty is smaller than recent antitrust fines against Apple ($583 million) and Meta ($233 million).

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