European Union says blue check marks on X are "misleading"
Social network X is "misleading" its users with the blue tick that is supposed to guarantee that accounts are verified. This is the preliminary conclusion of the European Commission's investigation into possible breaches of European rules on digital services. Elon Musk's company could face heavy fines.
"Blue tick marks used to mean that information sources were trustworthy. With X, we have now come to the preliminary conclusion that they mislead users and are in breach of the law on digital services," said Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton on Friday. "X now has the right to defend itself, but if our judgement is confirmed, we will impose fines and require significant changes.
This is the first time that the EC has come to the initial conclusion that a major online platform is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the new law that came into force last year and requires major online platforms to take measures to protect users from, among other things, dark patterns, illegal content and manipulated information.
"X designs and manages its interface for blue-labelled verified accounts in a way that does not reflect industry practice and misleads users," a press release from the EC reads. "Because anyone can apply for such a verified status, users have insufficient means to assess the authenticity of the account and its content", it concluded.
The EC also notes two other objections. For example, X does not comply with the transparency requirement for advertising as it does not have a reliable advertising register. Finally, the Commission states that X does not give researchers sufficient access to its public data.
X will now have the opportunity to review the investigation and respond in writing. If the conclusion remains that X is in breach of the DSA, it could face fines of up to 6 per cent of its worldwide turnover. The EC can also impose periodic penalty payments to force a platform to adjust.
The EC opened an investigation into X last December, which covered the measures taken by the former Twitter against the dissemination of illegal content and manipulated information. This part of the investigation is still ongoing.
© PHOTO ANDRE M CHANG / ZUMA PRESS WIRE
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