The Daily Populous Friday December 5th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by politico.eu and submitted by Sweet-Cuties

X was found in breach of transparency obligations it faces as a very large online platform under the EU’s Digital Services Act. The Commission said the design of X’s blue checkmark is “deceptive,” after it was changed from user verification into a paid feature.

The EU's executive also said X’s advertising library lacks transparency and that it fails to provide access to public data for researchers as required by the law.

The fine marks the conclusion of only one part of the EU’s probe into X, which opened almost two years ago as the first one under the DSA. Other major parts, such as on X’s efforts to counter the spread of illegal content and battle information manipulation, are still ongoing.

The European Commission’s Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen contrasted the EU’s decision on X with a separate decision on TikTok also released Friday. The investigation into TikTok’s ad library was closed with no fine because the company offered to change the design of its service.

“We’re not here to impose the highest fines, we’re here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced. If you comply with our rules, you don’t get a fine,” Virkkunen told reporters at a briefing Friday morning.

Under the DSA, companies can be fined up to 6 percent of global annual turnover. While X’s global revenues are estimated to be in the low single-digit billions, Musk’s range of companies has revenues that are much higher.

Maketaten on December 5th, 2025 at 12:37 UTC »

How does this strain ties with the US?

Who in the US (aside from X owners) is taking it personally when another country fines this random company 0.29% of its worth after it was found guilty of breaking EU laws? Who cares? The EU is simply maintaining law and order in Europe.

If anything, we should care more that an American company is giving the US a bad reputation in the EU with its unlawful, unethical conduct and practices. It’s embarrassing that they acted so badly that they’ve been fined €120,000,000.

Objective_Mousse7216 on December 5th, 2025 at 12:00 UTC »

Just ban and block X in all of Europe.

Gloomy-Tea-3841 on December 5th, 2025 at 11:52 UTC »

The US is cutting ties with Europe, why should we give in?