The European Commission fines X $140 million for its deceptive blue checkmark

"The EC has fined the social network €120 million (approximately $140 million), finding that its blue checkmark was deceptive since it implies a user who has it is verified, but anyone can pay to obtain this status "without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account". This violates the obligation, under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), for online platforms to "prohibit deceptive design practices on their services"."

"The fine also covers X's advertisement repository failing to meet "the transparency and accessibility requirements of the DSA", according to the EC's press release. It further states that "accessible and searchable ad repositories are critical for researchers and civil society to detect scams, hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations and fake advertisements". X is said to incorporate "design features and access barriers, such as excessive delays in processing, which undermine the purpose of ad repositories"."

"The repository also lacks critical information like the content and topic of the ad, as well as the legal entity paying for it. Finally, X is also on the hook for failing to provide researchers with access to its public data, which is another requirement of the DSA. X's terms of service prohibit eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data, including through scraping. X's processes for researchers' access to public data "impose unnecessary barriers, effectively undermining research into several systemic risks in the EU"."

The European Commission fined X €120 million for a deceptive paid verification system and breaches of the Digital Services Act. The blue checkmark was found to mislead by implying verification while any user could pay for it without the company meaningfully verifying account ownership. The ad repository failed EU transparency and accessibility requirements, lacking information on ad content, topic, and the legal entity paying for ads. Design features and access barriers, including excessive processing delays, undermined the repository's purpose. X also failed to provide researchers independent access to public data; terms of service prohibit scraping and access processes impose unnecessary barriers. Deadlines: 60 working days for blue-check remedies, 90 days for ad repository and researcher access.

Read at GSMArena.com