X deactivates European Commission's ad account after the company was fined 120M | TechCrunch

"In its first fine under the European Union's Digital Services Act, the commission called X's blue checkmark system "deceptive" and said the paid verification system makes users vulnerable to impersonation and scams. The commission also said X's advertising repository failed to meet the DSA's requirements for transparency and accessibility. The commission said that X must respond within 60 days to its concerns about blue checkmarks, and within 90 days to the ad transparency violations, or it could face additional penalties."

"Quoting the commission's post announcing the fine, X's Bier accused the EC of logging into a "dormant ad account to take advantage of an exploit in our Ad Composer - to post a link that deceives users into thinking it's a video and to artificially increase its reach." "As you may be aware, X believes everyone should have an equal voice on our platform," Bier wrote. "However, it seems you believe that the rules should not apply to your account." As a result, he said the commission's ad account had been "terminated." Bier subsequently said the exploit "has never been abused like this" and has since been patched."

"After the fine was announced, X owner Elon Musk described it as "bullshit" and also posted, "How long before the EU is gone? AbolishTheEU". Now it seems X has penalized the commission's account on the platform - not, the company says, because of the fine, but rather the commission's use of X's advertising system. While the commission may have lost the ability to buy ads on X, its post announcing the fine remains up, and its account still has a grey checkmark indicating that it belongs to a government organization."

X was fined €120 million under the EU Digital Services Act for a deceptive blue checkmark paid verification system and for failing ad transparency and accessibility requirements. The commission demanded responses within 60 days on blue checks and 90 days on ad transparency or face further penalties. X owner Elon Musk called the fine "bullshit" and posted "How long before the EU is gone? AbolishTheEU". X Head of Product Nikita Bier accused the commission of exploiting a dormant ad account to abuse an Ad Composer vulnerability, said the account was terminated and the exploit patched. The commission's fine announcement remains visible and its account retains a grey government checkmark.

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