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EU regulators have told X that its Premium tier’s blue checkmark is deceptive and part of multiple alleged violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The European Commission has issued preliminary findings that the checkmark tricks users. As anyone can pay to get the tick, it hurts users’ ability to determine the authenticity of an account. There are signs people have abused the symbol to fool others, officials said.
X algorithms supposedly worsen the issue by prioritizing replies from people with the blue checkmark in a given thread.
The EU body also found that X ran afoul of transparency rules as it didn’t have a “searchable and reliable” ad repository. This doesn’t let overseers and researchers keep an eye on malicious ad practices, according to the Commission.
The agency also accused X of failing to give researchers access to public data under DSA terms. The social media giant bars independent access of that data through methods like scraping, and the process for accessing the API (application programming interface) seems to discourage researchers who can’t handle “high fees.”
The Commission said its investigation was still ongoing, and that the findings gave X a chance to defend itself in writing. If upheld, though, the determination could make X pay fines of up to 6% of its global yearly turnover in addition to changing its approach.
Before Elon Musk bought Twitter and for a short time afterward (before the X name change), the blue checkmark was only used for verification. It showed that an account for a celebrity, journalist, politician, or other notable figure was real.
Musk characterized that approach as elitist, though, and gave blue checkmarks to anyone willing to pay for a subscription. That caused significant confusion early on, and X issued different-hued checkmarks to prominent accounts (particularly for companies and politicians) in a bid to clarify matters.
X doesn’t have a communications team, and Musk hasn’t responded to the EU beyond a joke questioning the authenticity of the Commission’s Thierry Breton. However, it’s safe to say X isn’t likely to be happy. The findings could force X to drop paid checkmarks, reducing the incentive to subscribe.
