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The European Commission has accused Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, of deceiving users and violating digital content regulations, putting the company at risk of a substantial fine. The commission, which serves as the executive arm of the European Union, initiated an investigation last year to determine if X is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA). This landmark legislation mandates that major tech firms enhance their content moderation practices.
In its preliminary findings released on Friday, the commission asserted that X has violated rules related to dark patterns, advertising transparency, and data accessibility for researchers. Dark patterns refer to deceptive tactics that manipulate users into making certain decisions.
One specific issue highlighted by the commission is X’s use of the blue checkmark for verified accounts, which diverges from standard industry practices. The commission noted that the verified status can be purchased by anyone, leading to misuse by “motivated malicious actors” who use it to deceive other users.
Additionally, the commission criticized X for implementing design features that obstruct advertising transparency and failing to provide researchers with access to its public data as mandated by the DSA.
“In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas, by using dark patterns and thus misleading users, by failing to provide an adequate ad repository, and by blocking access to data for researchers,” stated Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief, in a statement released Friday. “The DSA has transparency at its very core, and we are determined to ensure that all platforms, including X, comply with EU legislation.”
X has yet to respond to requests for comments. However, Elon Musk claimed in a post on X that the company was offered an “illegal secret deal” by the commission to avoid a fine if it agreed to censor speech. Musk alleged that other platforms accepted this deal, but X did not, though he provided no evidence to support these claims.