Elon Musk’s X accused of violating EU digital laws, Musk says EU offered illegal secret deal

Elon Musk’s X (Formerly Twitter) has been accused by the European Union (EU) of multiple violations of the Digital Services Act, which can potentially lead to hefty fines for the social media platform.

What are the violations of the Digital Services Act by X?

One key violation includes allowing people to get a “checkmark” which was once reserved only for verified users.

These checkmarks which were once a form of verification were earlier, given only to celebrities, politicians, and influential figures. After Musk acquired X in 2022, anybody could get the verification mark by paying $8 a month. This has led to concerns that users can be deceived by malicious actors, an India TV report read.

“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,” the EU regulators said in Brussels, according to a Financial Times report.

How much can the EU fine X?

If the EU’s findings are confirmed, X can face a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide revenue. The company earned $5.1 billion in 2021, which was the last year it published its revenue figures.

What are the other rules of the EU that X broke?

Apart from the checkmark, the EU also stated that X broke rules regarding dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.

The Digital Services Act which came into effect just this year, bans “dark patterns,” which is the use of subtle design cues that are used for influencing users to give up personal data or buy into certain products or services.

An example is when a company tries to persuade a user to opt into tracking by highlighting an acceptance button in bright colors, while at the same time, downplaying the opt out button by minimizing font sizes or placing it in different places, according to a CNN report.

The EU also accused X of advertising transparency issues as well as for failing to allow its researchers to access its public data, as is required by the Digital Services Act.

What was Elon Musk’s response?

However, Musk wrote a post on X on Friday stating, “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.”

Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market responded stating, “Be our guest @elonmusk. There has never been — and will never be — any ‘secret deal’. With anyone.”

“To be extra clear: it’s *YOUR* team who asked the Commission to explain the process for settlement and to clarify our concerns. We did it in line with established regulatory procedures. Up to you to decide whether to offer commitments or not. That is how rule of law procedures work. See you (in court or not),” he wrote.

What other companies is the EU investigating?

The European Commission is also investigating TikTok, Alibaba’s AliExpress and Meta, according to a CNBC report which states that this is part of the EU’s efforts to regulate digital giants like Google and Meta, particularly when it comes to how digital companies target users with ads.

Also Read: Invest on product and supply chain, less on ‘cute ads’: Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal on EV sales slowdown

In India, X had reportedly banned 194,053 accounts between May 26 and June 25, 2024, according to the India TV report which added that the major reason for the bans was due to non-consensual nudity and child sexual exploitation, with 1,991 accounts deleted for promoting terrorism.