The announcement by the government of 120 million euros to the X platform of the richest man on the planet and a former official of the Trump administration, for a violation of the transparency rules provided for by the Digital Services Act (DSA), brought reactions in particularly high tones from the government.
“Lightning” from the USA for the fine
A few hours after the fine was announced, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the decision an “attack on the American people by foreign governments”. As he characteristically wrote in X: The 140 million dollar fine imposed by the European Commission is not only an attack on the X platform, it is an attack on all American technology platforms and the American people, by foreign governments. The era of censorship of Americans online is over.”
Accordingly, the chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also condemned the fine imposed by the EU on the social network company, posting on X that: “Once again, Europe fines a successful American technology company because it is successful. Europe is taxing Americans to fund a continent held back by its own suffocating regulations.”
Regarding the Commission’s decision
However, according to the decision of the European Commission, X violated the DSA and the violations include the misleading handling of the “blue signal”, the lack of transparency in the ad repository and the failure to provide public data for research purposes. According to the Commission, the ability for anyone to obtain the “verified” badge without substantial verification misleads users, making it difficult to assess the authenticity of accounts and content, while at the same time exposing users to fraud and impersonation. The Commission noted that while the DSA does not require mandatory verification, it expressly prohibits platforms from misrepresenting a user as “verified.”
The badge, previously reserved for official accounts at no cost, is now sold for €7 per month. The Commission highlighted that the new use of the mark may mislead users about the authenticity of accounts, as a “verified” account may actually belong to a bot or not correspond to a real user.
In addition, the Commission also imposed the penalty due to non-compliance with transparency rules for advertising, which in many cases do not clearly specify the difference between sponsored and organic content, creating a risk of financial fraud for users. In addition, ‘X’ did not provide up-to-date advertiser registers or data on views and likes, in breach of its obligations to the European Authorities investigating the matter, as stipulated by the DSA.
Based on the proportionality of the fine
The fine was calculated based on proportionality: €45 million for the misleading use of the blue mark, €40 million for not providing data to researchers and €35 million for the lack of access to the ad registry. Despite the size of the fine, it is far less than the 6% cap on the platform’s annual global turnover set by the DSA.
The Commission’s investigation lasted two years, with the aim of building a strong legal case, as ‘X’ is expected to appeal. The delay in issuing the sentence had been criticized by both governments and former European Commissioners such as Thierry Breton.
The US government is fighting back
Shortly after the fine was announced, and in line with Rubio’s remarks, the US government in a leaked State Department memo to US missions abroad appeared to be considering implementing new measures to improve free speech online, including “not issuing visas to individuals found responsible or complicit in censoring or attempting to censor protected expression in the US.”
The document, according to Reuters, states that consular authorities should conduct thorough screening of visa applicants “to determine whether they have worked in fields that include activities such as disinformation, content control, fact-checking, compliance and cyber security.”
