Elon Musk’s social media platform X has been accused by the European Union (EU) of violating its online content regulations, particularly regarding its “verified” blue tick accounts, which could potentially mislead users.
The EU’s tech regulator stated that users might be misled into believing that accounts with blue ticks have undergone verification, whereas in reality, anyone can obtain a blue tick by paying for it. The regulator noted evidence of “malicious actors” exploiting this system.
The investigation was initiated under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
If found guilty, X could face fines of up to 6% of its global annual turnover and may be required to revise its operations within the bloc.
Mr Musk reacted angrily: “The DSA is misinformation,” he wrote on X.
The billionaire, who bought the platform for $44bn in 2022, said the DSA rules amounted to “censored speech” which he said he found unacceptable.
X chief executive Linda Yaccarino also defended the company’s practices.
“A democratised system, allowing everyone across Europe to access verification, is better than just the privileged few being verified,” she wrote on the social media site.
The findings come after a seven-month investigation conducted under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Introduced in 2022, this law mandates major tech companies such as X to take measures to combat illegal content and ensure public safety.
Alongside X, ByteDance’s TikTok, AliExpress, and Meta Platforms are also under investigation under this act.
The European Commission stated that its examination of X revealed issues including insufficient transparency regarding advertising practices and failure to comply with EU regulations by not providing data for research purposes.
“In particular, X prohibits eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data, such as by scraping, as stated in its terms of service”, the Commission said.
The tech regulator also said that the way X designed and operated its interface for blue tick verified accounts did “not correspond to industry practice and deceives users”.
“Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a ‘verified’ status, it negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with,” it said.
“There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the ‘verified account’ to deceive users,” it added.
The Commission said X could defend itself against the findings or resolve the issue by committing to changes that would bring it into compliance.
Any such deal would be made public, it added, in response to Mr Musk’s claim that the commission had offered an “illegal secret deal”.
“Back in the day, BlueChecks used to mean trustworthy sources of information,” Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, said.
“Now with X, our preliminary view is that they deceive users and infringe the DSA.”
“X has now the right of defence – but if our view is confirmed, we will impose fines and require significant changes.”
The Commission pushed back against Mr Musks’s charge of censorship, saying its rules were aimed at ensuring “a safe and fair online environment for European citizens that is respectful of their rights, in particular freedom of expression”.
Among its stipulations, the European Commission highlighted requirements for companies to notify users about account restrictions and to allow banned users the opportunity to contest those decisions.
The Commission stated that it is ongoing with investigations into X’s practices concerning the dissemination of illegal content and its effectiveness in combating the dissemination of fake news.