The European Union (EU) has accused Elon Musk‘s X (formerly Twitter) of violating the Digital Services Act on various occasions. If found guilty, the social media platform may face heavy fines.
The Issue with Verification Checkmarks
Permitting someone to get a “checkmark,” which was previously exclusive to verified users, is a significant infraction.
These checkmarks, which were once used as a verification tool, were previously awarded to notable people, politicians, and celebrities alone. Anyone might obtain the verification mark by paying $8 a month once Musk owns X in 2022. According to an India TV article, this has raised worries that customers may be tricked by dishonest people.
EU authorities stated in Brussels that “anyone can subscribe to obtain such a’verified’ status, which negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with.”
Fines for X
Should the EU’s conclusions hold up, X may be fined up to 6% of its global sales. The company’s revenue for 2021, the latest year it released its numbers, was $5.1 billion.
Additional Violations of EU Regulations
In addition to the checkmark, the EU said that X violated regulations pertaining to dark patterns, advertising transparency, and researcher access to data.
Dark Patterns and Advertising Transparency
The use of subtle design cues to persuade users to divulge personal information or purchase certain goods or services is prohibited under the Digital Services Act, which went into force earlier last year.
One example would be if a business tried to convince a user to consent to monitoring by emphasizing an acceptance button in vivid colors while simultaneously downplaying the opt-out option by shrinking text sizes or positioning it differently.
In addition, X was charged by the EU for failing to disclose transparency concerns and for not granting its researchers access to public data, as mandated by the Digital Services Act.
Elon Musk’s reaction
Musk, however, stated in a post on X on Friday that “X was offered an illegal secret deal by the European Commission; they would not fine us if we censored speech covertly and without informing anyone.” That bargain was approved by the other platforms. X didn’t.
The European Commission offered 𝕏 an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us.
The other platforms accepted that deal.
𝕏 did not. https://t.co/4lKsaRsYoA
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2024
EU’s Response to Musk
“Be our guest, @elonmusk,” replied Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market. There is not, and never will be, a “secret deal.” with anybody.”
Be our guest @elonmusk ⚖️🇪🇺
There has never been — and will never be — any “secret deal”. With anyone.
The DSA provides X (and any large platform) with the possibility to offer commitments to settle a case.
To be extra clear: it’s *YOUR* team who asked the Commission to… https://t.co/8Wo7DXdap0
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) July 12, 2024
To be quite clear, your team is the one that contacted the Commission to raise questions and request clarification on the settlement procedure. We followed the proper regulatory processes when doing it. Whether or not to provide promises is entirely up to you. That is the operation of rule-of-law procedures. “See you, whether in court or not,” he penned.
