Preliminary findings: the European Commission says X's paid blue checkmark deceives users and breaches the DSA; X could be fined up to 6% of its global revenue

Brussels regulators use new digital powers to threaten social media company with huge fines over transparency issues

Financial Times 2024-07-12 Javier Espinoza

Context & Ripple Effects

The finding is the next escalation in the Commission’s DSA investigation into X, which had already put content, advertising, interface design and researcher-access practices under scrutiny. It follows reports of a planned final warning over X’s DSA compliance.

The case matters beyond a single account feature: the DSA is being applied to how a platform communicates identity and trust to users, not only to its handling of content. Later coverage records a €120M DSA penalty for X, showing this inquiry became a concrete enforcement test.

First-order effects

X faces a formal Commission case over its paid verification design and transparency practices, with a potential penalty capped at 6% of global revenue.
The paid blue checkmark’s meaning becomes a compliance issue: X must defend whether users can distinguish paid subscribers from genuinely verified accounts.

Second-order effects

Other large platforms using badges, subscriptions or creator-status labels may need to reassess whether their interfaces clearly convey what each signal represents.
The case raises the compliance value of auditable product disclosures, giving legal, policy and trust-and-safety teams more influence over monetization-facing interface choices.

Third-order effects

If sustained, DSA enforcement could make platform trust signals subject to outcome-based scrutiny: labels must not merely be disclosed, but must avoid misleading ordinary users.
This points toward EU platform governance reaching deeper into product design, with enforcement risk shaping how global services standardize identity, advertising and transparency features.

The trend: The larger trend is EU digital regulation turning interface design and platform transparency into enforceable operational requirements for major online services.

Discussion

@thierrybreton Thierry Breton on x
Back in the day, #BlueChecks used to mean trustworthy sources of information✔️🐦 Now with X, our preliminary view is that: ❌They deceive users ❌They infrige #DSA X has now the right of defence —but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines & require significant changes. [image…
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
X has been charged under the EU's digital services act for 1. Blue checks decieving users since there's no actual verification. 2. Not providing a searchable library of ads. 3. Not providing data access to researchers. X can be fined up to 6% of global revenues if found guilty. […
@balajis Balaji on x
The EU fears that free speech on the internet might cause political change on their continent. So they want to build a new Berlin Wall online to “protect” Europe from thoughtcrime.
@micsolana Mike Solana on x
these people are literally evil
@eu_commission @eu_commission on x
For the first time, we are issuing preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act. In our view, X does not comply in areas linked to: ▪️ Dark patterns ▪️ Advertising transparency ▪️ Data access for researchers We will ensure that all platforms comply with EU legislation.
@digitaleu @digitaleu on x
🔔 @EU_Commission sent today the preliminary findings to X under the #DigitalServicesAct. X is in breach of the #DSA in areas linked to dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers. Read more ↓

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