Overview
- The European Commission found X in breach of the Digital Services Act and fined the company €120 million for misleading account authentication, restricting researcher access to data, and opaque ad documentation.
- Regulators said X had turned the blue verification check into a paid ‘premium’ marker that could mislead users about account authenticity and required clearer labeling and rules.
- The Commission provisionally accepted the changes X proposed to address those problems and set a six‑month deadline for implementation under heightened oversight.
- X has said it will contest the fine in court and US political figures publicly criticized the EU action, framing it as hostile to American tech firms.
- The decision tests how the DSA will be enforced going forward and could change how platforms handle verification, researcher data access, and ad transparency for EU users and independent researchers.