Platform X (formerly Twitter) became the first technological giant officially punished under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).
The European Commission has imposed on the company Elona Muska a fine of nearly $140 million. The main reason is to mislead users through a paid verification strategy and deficiency of transparency in advertisements.
The Commission decision, announced on Friday, is the culmination of an investigation that has been ongoing since 2023. Brussels recognised that the flagship changes introduced by Musk after the takeover of the service violate European law, exposing users to misinformation and fraud.
You pay, so you're reliable?
As many as 1 3rd of the amount of the punishment relates to a controversial revision of the verification system. In November 2022 Musk replaced the conventional identity verification strategy (attributed to public individuals and institutions) with a paid subscription, whereby anyone who pays about $8 a period receives a "blue stamp".
The European Commission has stated that this practice "swinds users" suggesting that blue stamp accounts are verified and trustworthy, whereas in fact they are only paid for. This strategy plan facilitates the operation of fraudsters and botom impersonating known brands or politicians. Interestingly, despite the fight against bots declared by Musk, the investigation showed that X made their recognition difficult.
Advertising in a “black box” and blocking of researchers
Another allegation is the deficiency of transparency of the advertising repository. According to the DSA, platforms must share advertising data in order to detect disinformation campaigns or hybrid threats. X has been found guilty of “excessive delays” in providing these data and concealing key information specified as the content of advertising or its sponsor.
The decision to cut off scientists from free access to the platform's API was besides punished, which took place in February 2023. This movement has paralyzed the work of more than 100 investigation teams dealing with hatred speech and disinformation.
Political storm on the horizon
Elon Musk now has 60 days to present a corrective plan for verification and 90 days to improve advertising transparency. However, much indicates that the case will go to court.
The surrounding of Donald Trump's future administration, including Vice President-elect JD Vance, has already identified the EU's actions as "censorship" and attacks on American companies. Henna Virkkunen, Vice-Chief of the Commission liable for Technology, repudiates these allegations, stressing that DSA has nothing to do with censorship and that the punishment is "proportional" to threats.
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