The European Union has accused the microblogging site X of violating the EU’s new social media regulations. The EU Commission has revealed the initial findings into the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Under DSA social media platforms are required to take on more responsibility for protecting users and cleaning up their sites. This time, EU regulators have taken issue with blue checkmarks. They claim that these blue checkmarks offered by the platform are deceptive and do not align with the industry’s best practices.
Earlier these checkmarks were only reserved for celebrities, politicians, and other influential figures. However, after Elon Musk took over Twitter and rebranded it to X in 2022, the verification mark became available to anyone who paid $8 per month to them. According to the EU, this change has led them to be concerned about the abuse of the system by malicious actors and users.
Here is what they said in their statement.
“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. The DSA has transparency at its very core, and we are determined to ensure that all platforms, including X, comply with EU legislation.”
They also criticized the platform for its lack of compliance and ad transparency requirements. According to the DSA, social media platforms are obligated to publish a database of all digital advertisements they have carried. This database will include details about the advertisers and the intended audience as well.
However, the EU finds that X’s ad database has access barriers that render it inadequate for transparency.
They have also been faulted for not providing access to the public data for researchers. Commission says that the company’s practices are not in line with the new requirements of the DSA.
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