The EU is going to heavily fine social network X for Mask's "ticking" – FT

Elon Musk's social network X (ex-Twitter) is under the threat of heavy fines in the European Union (EU). The company may be punished for Musk's decision to allow anyone to pay to get a "blue tick". The fine could be hundreds of millions of dollars.

The European Commission believes that such a policy leads to transparency problems, the Financial Times (FT) reports. They said that X violated the new European law on digital services, which was designed to improve control over online content.

The investigation began in 2023. Experts concluded that the ability to buy verification "ticks" introduced by Musk misleads users. "Since anyone can sign up for such a 'verified' status, this negatively affects the ability of users to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of accounts and content," the article says.

The EU could fine X 6% of its total global turnover. In 2021, the last full year that Twitter published its revenue, the company earned $5.1 billion. With these figures, the fine would have amounted to $306 million.

"At one time, blue check marks meant reliable sources of information... In our preliminary opinion, X is deceiving users and violating the DSA (Digital Services Act – Ed.). X has the right to defense, but if our point of view is confirmed, we will impose fines and demand significant changes," said European Commissioner for Internal Trade and Services Thierry Breton.

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