EU Fines Elon Musk's X €120 Million Over DSA Transparency Breaches

The European Commission fined Elon Musk's social media platform X 120 million euros on Friday for violating transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act.

The penalty marks the first non-compliance decision under the DSA since its enforcement began.

Regulators identified three breaches, including the deceptive design of X's blue checkmark for verified accounts, the lack of transparency in its advertising repository, and the failure to provide researchers access to public data.

The blue checkmark system allows users to pay for a verified status without actual verification, which regulators said misleads people about account authenticity and exposes them to risks like scams and impersonation.

X's ad repository falls short of DSA requirements because it contains access barriers, delays, and missing details such as ad content and payer information, which limits scrutiny of potential threats like fraud or information operations.

X also blocks researchers from accessing public data through its terms of service and imposes undue restrictions on data scraping.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said:

"We are not here to impose the highest fines. We are here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced and if you comply with our rules, you don't get the fine. And it's as simple as that."

She added, "I think it's very important to underline that DSA is having nothing to do with censorship."

Musk responded to the commission's announcement on X with "Bullshit" and reposted messages criticizing the decision.

He wrote:

"Freedom of speech is the bedrock democracy. The only way to know what you are voting for."

The commission calculated the fine based on the infringements' nature, their impact on EU users, and their duration.

In a separate case, TikTok avoided a penalty by agreeing to changes in its ad library to improve transparency after a similar DSA probe, while in this case, X has the option to appeal the decision.