The European Union"s regulatory agency, the European Commission, has issued a preliminary decision concerning X (formerly Twitter) and how it handles the EU"s Digital Services Act (DSA). The EC says that X violates the DSA in a number of areas. That includes how X handles the signups of its verified users, which can normally be identified by the blue checkmark on their accounts.
In a press release, the EC says that X"s method of registering verified users actually "deceives users" and does not conform to normal practices in the social networking industry. It added:
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. There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the “verified account” to deceive users.
In addition, the agency says X does not follow the DSA"s rules on transparency with its advertising division. It claims X puts in barriers and makes design decisions that do not make its ad repository searchable and transparent. The press release stated:
In particular, the design does not allow for the required supervision and research into emerging risks brought about by the distribution of advertising online.
Finally, the EC says X does allow eligible researchers to access its public data by scraping, as X says it does in its own terms of service. The agency says X makes it hard for researchers to access its APIs without paying large fees to the company.
If the agency"s findings are confirmed after this preliminary decision, it could impose a fine on X that could reach up to 6 percent of its total global turnover. As of this writing, neither X nor its owner, Elon Musk, has offered a response to the EC"s announcement.