The regulatory body of the European Union announced on Friday that Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, violated its rules regarding advertising transparency, data access for researchers, and user information.
The European Commission’s decision follows an investigation launched months ago to determine if X, formerly known as Twitter before Musk’s acquisition in October 2022, breached the Digital Services Act (DSA). This law mandates that major digital platforms and their owners protect user privacy and prevent harmful content from proliferating online.
The Commission stated that X failed to comply with its transparency rules for advertising, highlighting the absence of a searchable advertisement database. In comparison, Meta’s Facebook maintains an ad library allowing users to search for ads run in the EU over the past year and those focusing on political or social issues over the past seven years.
Additionally, Musk’s platform was criticized for denying researchers access to public data. The Commission pointed to Musk’s decision to place X’s application programming interface (API) — which allows researchers access to approximately 10 million posts monthly — behind a costly paywall, disrupting over 100 research projects.
The Commission also criticized X’s verification system for misleading users about account legitimacy. After Musk took control of X, the traditional blue checkmarks indicating notable users were replaced with a system that ties these checkmarks to subscription accounts purchasable by anyone. “There is evidence of malicious actors exploiting the ‘verified account’ status to deceive users,” the Commission stated.
Thierry Breton, the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, remarked, “BlueChecks once signified trustworthy information sources. X’s ad repository and research data access conditions do not meet DSA transparency requirements.”
In response, Musk issued several remarks concerning the decision. Questioning Breton’s credibility on X, Musk asked, “How do we know you’re real?” He also labeled the DSA as “misinformation.”
Musk alleged that the European Commission proposed an illegal secret deal wherein X would not be fined if it censored speech covertly, a claim targeting unnamed other platforms as well. He expressed readiness for a “very public battle in court” to reveal the truth to Europe’s citizens.
Breton rebutted Musk’s claims in his own statement, asserting, “There has never been — and will never be — any ‘secret deal’. With anyone.” He mentioned that the DSA allows large platforms to offer commitments to resolve issues, adding that X had requested the Commission to clarify its concerns and explain the settlement process.
The findings from the regulatory arm are preliminary, and X has the opportunity to respond. Should the Commission confirm its initial findings, X could face fines up to 6% of its global annual revenue and be required to take action to address the EU’s concerns.
The Commission has been notably active, challenging several tech giants. In addition to X, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta have also been accused of violating the EU’s Digital Markets Act, an anti-competition law.