Commission probes of X’s actions in the past, with an application to anti-deception, cyberbullying, and hate speech

Musk will have the chance to defend X against the charges and suggest measures to address the EU’s concerns. But if Musk refuses to remedy the issues, X could face a fine of up to 6% of the company’s annual worldwide revenue, a figure that can easily reach into the tens of millions of dollars.

In its press release, the EU states that the changes made to X’s bluecheck system prevent users from determining the authenticity of accounts they interact with. The EU has found evidence that actors are abusing the system to deceive users.

The commission said that it negatively affects users ability to make free and informed decisions about authenticity of accounts and the content they interact with. There is proof that malicious actors abused theverified account to deceive users.

The European Union has warned X that their blue checkmark verification system is not safe for use, because it is against established industry practices. The EU found that X is failing to comply with transparency obligations about advertising and giving data to researchers.

Under the new law, X is obliged to publish a database of all its digital advertisements with information about who bankrolled the ads and what audience the ads are targeting.

But EU investigators said X’s ad database is not “searchable and reliable,” making it difficult for researchers to study “emerging risks,” like ads that carry harmful messages or target vulnerable groups.

On X, Musk wrote “if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted the deal. X did not,” Musk said, vowing to fight the case.

Another probe underway by European authorities is examining whether X has done enough to combat disinformation and illegal hate speech. That investigation is still ongoing, European officials said on Friday.

The Commission opened an investigation into X on December 18th. The report investigated deceptive practices, advertising transparency, data access for researchers, as well as the dissemination of illegal content on the platform and its moderation practices after the Israel-Hamas war. The Commission says that part of the investigation is still ongoing.

The EU is ramping up its enforcement of its strict rules for big tech companies. The DSA probes are looking at whether Meta has done enough to moderate political, deceptive or illegal content on Facebook or safeguard children that use the platforms.

Enabling any account to pay for a verification breaches the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), European Commission officials said on Friday, because it “negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts.” X can respond to the findings. If Musk doesn’t reach a solution with the EU, the company faces fines up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover.

In the past month, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta have all been accused of breaking EU rules. Apple and Meta need to reach an agreement before March 2020 to escape fines. Apple relented to local regulators yesterday and said that it would allow its wallet technology to be used by rivals.