EU slaps €120M fine on Elon Musk’s X, straining ties with US

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.