The European Commission today charged Elon Musk’s X with being in violation of its Digital Services Act (DSA), in part for how it operates its Blue checkmark, or verified accounts.
“Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a ‘verified’ status, it negatively affects users' ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with,” the Commission wrote in a statement.
It added, “There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the ‘verified account’ to deceive users.” This is happening as calling out bots on X and other social platforms has reached meme status, with many users trying to trick generative AI bots into revealing that they are indeed bots.
Prior to Musk’s purchase of Twitter, now X, the company assigned blue checks to prominent public users like politicians, journalists, and celebrities. Last year, Musk began revoking those verifications and instead letting regular users purchase them, which critics say led to confusion and (even more) trolling on the platform.
The Commission also called out X for not allowing researchers access to its API. “X's process to grant eligible researchers access to its application programming interface (API) appears to dissuade researchers from carrying out their research projects or leave them with no other choice than to pay disproportionally high fees,” it said. In other words, it’s made it hard for outsiders to bring problems with the platform to light.
If the EC confirms its preliminary charges, it could fine X 6% of its annual revenue.
