“The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms."
The European Commission alleged that the social network violated safety requirements through “the deceptive design of its ‘blue checkmark,’ the lack of transparency of its advertising repository, and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers.”
In response on Friday evening, Marco Rubio posted to X, “The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments. The days of censoring Americans online are over.”
“The EU should be supporting free speech,” Vice President JD Vance wrote in a Thursday message on X, “not attacking American companies over garbage.”
Musk replied: “Much appreciated.” X is the first company penalized under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a far-reaching regulatory framework that claims to curb misinformation and unlawful material online.
Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen criticized the platform, stating, “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU.”
She added, “We are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”
The owner of Tesla and SpaceX can still challenge the ruling in court, but doing so could trigger a lengthy legal dispute.
X has been ordered to fix concerns related to the blue-check system within 60 days, and it has 90 days to deliver a plan addressing issues tied to its advertising archive. If the company fails to meet these obligations, it could face recurring financial penalties.
When Musk bought the platform, he reworked the verification model, allowing any user to obtain a checkmark by subscribing to the platform’s premium tier.
EU officials warned that this supposed “deceptive design” increases the risk of impersonation scams and other online fraud. The Digital Services Act, paired with the Digital Markets Act and passed in 2022, forms the EU’s most stringent effort yet to make large online platforms answer for the content they host, including misinformation and illegal material.
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