3 Minutes
The European Commission has fined the social network X €120 million (about $140 million), finding the platform violated the Digital Services Act by using a misleading blue verification mark and by failing to keep its advertising data and researcher access transparent and usable.
Why the blue checkmark triggered an EU penalty
The Commission concluded that X’s blue check created the impression of account verification, while in practice anyone could buy the badge without meaningful identity checks. That kind of “deceptive design” runs counter to the DSA obligation for online services to avoid misleading interfaces that distort users' trust.
Imagine following an account because you assume it has been vetted — only to find the same marker on paid accounts with no guaranteed identity verification. Regulators say that undermines trust and misleads users about who’s behind a profile.
Ad repository shortfalls: missing data and needless hurdles
The fine also targets X’s advertising repository. The Commission says the repository failed to meet DSA rules on transparency and accessibility: it lacks essential metadata (such as ad content topics and the legal entity funding the ads) and is hampered by design choices that create access barriers.
Those barriers include excessive processing delays and limited searchability. For civil society and researchers, accessible ad archives are critical for spotting scams, coordinated disinformation and hybrid threat campaigns. Without clear, searchable records, detection and accountability become much harder.
Researcher access: blocked or slowed when it matters most
Under the DSA, platforms must provide researchers with access to public data to assess systemic risks. The Commission found X’s processes impose unnecessary obstacles: terms of service forbid eligible researchers from independently scraping public data, and the company’s access procedures effectively restrict timely research into misinformation, fraud and other harms.
What happens next — deadlines and enforcement steps
X now has specific windows to respond. The company must tell the Commission within 60 working days what measures it will take to fix the blue-check issue, and within 90 days it must outline the fixes for the ad repository and researcher access.
After X submits an action plan, the EC’s Board of Digital Services will have one month to issue an opinion. The Commission will then take up to another month to deliver a final decision and define a reasonable period for implementation.
In short: the penalty underscores the DSA’s reach — platforms must design interfaces and transparency tools that protect users, researchers and public-interest scrutiny. For X, changes are now on a tight regulatory timetable.
Source: gsmarena
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