EU Preliminarily Finds Social Network Platform X/Twitter in Violation of Digital Services Act, blue verification badge Deemed Deceptive

In 2023, the European Commission announced an investigation into the social network platform X/Twitter, as it was identified as the platform with the highest proportion of misinformation/false information posts, among other reasons.

This week, the Commission has published the official investigation results, preliminarily finding the platform in violation of the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA). The EU believes X/Twitter has engaged in multiple non-compliant activities.

Misuse of Paid blue verification badge:

Before being acquired by Elon Musk, X/Twitter provided free blue verification badge to celebrities, indicating the platform had verified the user's true identity and ensuring only authentic celebrities could receive verification.

Following the acquisition, Musk's strategy transformed the blue verification badge into an exclusive badge for X Premium subscribers, meaning the badge now signifies a subscription membership rather than any form of verification.

The EU's investigation pointed out that malicious actors with motives have abused this feature, obtaining the blue verification badge through subscription memberships to mislead users, as most still associate the blue verification badge with official authority.

Given these circumstances, the EU states: "The blue verification badge once represented a trustworthy source of information, but now it has deceived users. We preliminarily believe X/Twitter has violated the provisions of the Digital Services Act."

Failure to Comply with Advertising Transparency Requirements:

The Digital Services Act mandates platforms to publish a database of all their ads, including all information on paid advertisements and their target audiences.

The investigation found X/Twitter's advertising database to have design features and accessibility barriers, making it unsuitable for achieving transparency. Additionally, the company restricted researchers' access to its public data, a clear violation of DSA regulations.

Meanwhile, the EU continues to investigate whether X/Twitter has violated regulations related to the dissemination of illegal content and whether sufficient measures have been taken to limit misinformation.

Like the Digital Markets Act and other EU laws, non-compliant companies could face fines of up to 6% of their global revenue from the previous year. Therefore, if Elon Musk cannot reach a settlement with the EU, he may face significant fines.