The European Union has accused Elon Musk's social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), of violating the bloc's new social media regulations. The European Commission has revealed the initial findings of its investigation into X under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This set of regulations requires platforms to take on more responsibility for protecting users and cleaning up their sites. Failure to do so can result in severe fines.
Specifically, regulators have taken issue with X's use of blue checkmarks, which they claim are deceptive and do not align with industry best practices. According to the commission, these checkmarks, a form of verification, were previously only given to celebrities, politicians, and other influential figures. However, after Musk acquired the platform in 2022, the verification marks became available to anyone who paid $8 per month. This change has led to concerns that the system could be abused by malicious actors to deceive users.
The commission has also criticised X for its lack of compliance with ad transparency requirements. Under the DSA, platforms are obligated to publish a database of all digital advertisements they have carried, including details on the advertiser and the intended audience. However, the commission found that X's ad database has design features and access barriers that render it inadequate for transparency purposes.
In addition, X has been faulted for failing to provide researchers with access to public data, as mandated by the DSA. The commission's preliminary view is that X's practices are not in line with the requirements of the new regulations.
Meanwhile, X has reportedly banned 194,053 accounts in India between May 26 and June 25, 2024. The majority of the bans were due to promoting non-consensual nudity and child sexual exploitation. The microblogging platform, under Musk's leadership, has also taken down 1,991 accounts for promoting terrorism in the country.
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