paid for blue checks The European Union said today that users on social media network X are being deceived and abused by malicious actors. The EU has threatened the Elon Musk-owned platform with millions of dollars in fines if the company doesn’t make changes.
Enabling any account to pay for verification is a violation of EU rules. Digital Services Act (DSA), European Commission officials said on Friday, because it “negatively affects users’ ability to make independent and informed decisions about the authenticity of accounts.” X now has a chance to respond to the findings. If Musk cannot reach a settlement with the EU, the company could face a fine of up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover.
The blue marks that appear next to the account names of X Premium subscribers have been a subject of controversy ever since Musk acquired the platform in 2022“In earlier days, blue flags meant reliable sources of information. Now with X, our initial view is that they deceive users and violate the DSA,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton Said A statement said. “X now has the right to defend itself – but if our view is confirmed we will impose a fine and require significant changes.”
Axe did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Before Musk took over X (formerly known as Twitter), blue checks were used to verify the identities of influential accounts, ranging from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to celebrity Kim Kardashian. Approved by Twitter employees, blue checks were also common among active researchers and journalists, indicating they were credible sources of information.
Supporters of that system argued that it helped users identify trustworthy voices, while limiting scammers and impersonators. But Musk denounced the system as elitist and “unfriendly.”corrupt to the coreHe said the ability to buy a blue tick for $8 a month is an antidote to “Twitter’s current lords and peasants” set-up. “Power to the people!” PostedHe announced a new subscriber model.
yet one after the other Scandals—NBA star LeBron James was among the high-profile people targeted by fake accounts with paid blue checks —X introduced a more complex color-coded system, which Musk described as “painful, but necessary.” Verified companies can get gold checks, gray checks go to governments, and in April 2024 users will get “gold checks.”Impressive” got their blue checks restored for free.
Despite these changes, the EU said on Friday that X’s verification system is not in line with industry practice. Officials also claimed that X does not comply with local rules on advertising transparency and fails to provide researchers with adequate access to its public data using methods such as scraping. Fees for access to X’s API-Enterprise package start at Rs 1500. $42,000 per monthThe Commission said that – either deter researchers from carrying out projects or force them to pay disproportionately high fees. “In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas,” EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said. In a post on XHe said this was the first time a company had been accused of “preliminary findings” under the Digital Services Act.
The reprimand to X is the latest in a string of rebukes issued by the Commission to big tech companies, as European regulators leverage new rules designed to curb the market power of tech giants and improve the way they operate. The EU gave no deadline for X to respond to its findings.
last month, Apple, MicrosoftAnd Meta All have been accused of breaking EU rules. Meta and Apple must settle their cases before March 2025 to avoid fines. Yesterday, Apple said it would build its own Tap & Go wallet technology Available to competitors In its latest concession to the local regulator’s demands.
