The European Commission on Friday accused Elon Musk‘s X of deceiving users and infringing digital content rules, putting the social media giant at risk of a hefty fine.
The commission, which is the EU’s executive arm, started an investigation last year to assess whether X is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) — a piece of landscape legislation requiring Big Tech firms to better police the content on their platforms.
The body’s preliminary view, published Friday, is that X has broken rules regarding dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers. So-called dark patterns are deceptive tactics designed to push people toward certain products and services.
X’s use of the blue checkmark for verified accounts does not correspond to industry practices, the commission said, as anyone can subscribe and obtain a verified status. It added that there was evidence of “motivated malicious actors” abusing the verified status to deceive users.
The commission also accused …