The European Commission has issued preliminary findings that Elon Musk’s social media service X violates EU law by misleading users about the credibility of accounts.
The European Union’s executive body announced on Friday that the blue check mark on X, formerly Twitter, is in violation of the Digital Services Act. The act requires leading technology firms to take measures against fake information and illegal content.
Before Musk took over Twitter, the mark was used to verify that Twitter accounts of influential people and organizations were authentic. But now any paid subscriber who has met certain conditions can get one.
The Commission says, “Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a ‘verified’ status, it negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with.”
It also says there is evidence of “malicious actors abusing the ‘verified account’ to deceive users.”
X has a chance to challenge the preliminary views.
If X is ultimately found in breach of EU law, it can be hit with fines of up to as much as 6 percent of its global annual turnover.
The preliminary findings are the Commission’s first related to suspected violation of the Digital Services Act.
Musk responded by posting a comment saying, “We look forward to a very public battle in court, so that the people of Europe can know the truth.”
He also posted that, “The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not.”
The Commission has denied the allegation, saying: “There has never been, and will never be, any ‘secret deal.’ With anyone.”