The European Commission has imposed a €120 million fine on X (formerly Twitter) for multiple violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA), marking the first non-compliance decision issued under the landmark EU regulation.

According to the Commission, X breached key transparency obligations, including the deceptive design of its blue checkmark system, insufficient transparency in its advertising repository, and failure to provide researchers with proper access to public data.

The Commission found that X misled users by presenting paid “blue checkmarks” as indicators of account verification, despite not carrying out any meaningful identity checks. Under the DSA, platforms are prohibited from using deceptive design practices or falsely implying verification.

“Anyone can pay to obtain the ‘verified’ status without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account,” the Commission stated, warning that this exposes EU users to scams, impersonation, and manipulation. While the DSA does not require platforms to verify users, it prohibits platforms from misleadingly claiming that users have been verified when no verification has occurred.

X’s advertising repository also failed to meet DSA standards. The Commission cited missing information such as ad content, topics, and the legal entity financing the ads—details essential for researchers and civil society groups to detect coordinated disinformation, scams, and influence operations.

The platform also incorporated “design features and access barriers” that delayed access and undermined the repository’s purpose.

The Commission further concluded that X obstructed researchers by restricting access to public platform data. The company’s terms of service prevent researchers from collecting data through scraping, and its application process imposes what the Commission described as “unnecessary barriers,” hindering research into systemic risks in the EU.

X must now outline how it will correct the violations, with 60 working days to present concrete measures addressing the deceptive blue checkmark, and 90 working days to submit a comprehensive action plan to fix deficiencies in its advertising transparency tools and restore data access for independent researchers.

After X submits its plan, the Board of Digital Services will have one month to provide an opinion, followed by one additional month for the Commission to issue a final decision.

Failure to comply may result in additional periodic penalty payments.

The decision comes as part of ongoing formal proceedings launched in December 2023, which are also examining the dissemination of illegal content on X and the platform’s efforts to counter information manipulation. Investigations into those areas are still underway.

The Commission said it remains in contact with X to ensure full compliance with the DSA moving forward. (ILKHA)