Twitter’s X check is misleading and breaches Digital Services Act, warns European Commission

The European Commission has once again calmed eyebrows X (Twitter)this time to check accounts. According to the authorities, The blue verified mark is misleading and in breach of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).. Similarly, regulators have found the social network to be non-compliant in other areas, such as advertising transparency and providing public data to researchers.

Regarding the verification According to the organization, the method implemented by Elon Musk is not consistent with industry practice and may mislead users..

“Because anyone can sign up for this ‘verified’ status, it negatively impacts users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of accounts and the content they engage with. There is evidence that malicious actors are abusing ‘verified accounts’ to deceive users,” the report said.

There is no doubt that the European Commission did not take this objection out of thin air. Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, X, Social media account verification has become a source of controversyWhen the company introduced the blue verified checkmark as a Twitter Blue feature, now called X Premium, it didn’t take long for problems to arise.

In fact, at that point, the social network had to stop rolling out its subscription verification system because chaos had ensued within hours. The platform was flooded with fake but verified profiles of athletes, personalities, and even companies. The solution that X (Twitter) implemented was to use different verification colors: blue for individual accounts, gold for organizations, and gray for politicians, government officials, or government accounts.

European Commission puts X (Twitter) under control to check accounts

It is true that over time we have become accustomed to the difficulties of verifying an account on X (Twitter). But the confusion about which accounts are legitimate and which are not remains a matter of debate. And Elon Musk’s continued rants on the subject have done little good.

The mogul ordered the blue badge removed from all accounts that had received it through Twitter’s old verification system, meaning only X Premium subscribers could show the colored badge on their profile. However, he later backtracked and restored them to some accounts. heritageand even began to “give them away” to users who met certain criteria.

It should be added that X (Twitter) offered the ability to hide check blue verification for those who paid for Premium. But just a few months later, this feature was removed from the social network. So many marches and countermarches made it clear that the solution to this issue It’s completely arbitrary..

To be fair, X (Twitter) isn’t the only platform offering subscription verification. Facebook and Instagram have followed suit with the program. Meta checkedbut it doesn’t appear to have produced the same chaotic results as Musk’s firm. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, or that it won’t come under regulatory scrutiny at some point.

Other DSA Violations

In addition to account verification, X (Twitter) will be violating the Digital Services Act. in two other sections. On the one hand, the European Commission points out that the social network does not have an advertising repository that would ensure transparency of its advertising system. On the other hand, it warns that the platform does not provide researchers with access to its public data in accordance with the conditions set by the regulation.

Elon Musk’s people will have to analyze the regulators’ preliminary findings and present their defense. If the European Commission ratifies its findings, X (Twitter) could get a fine of up to 6% of your worldwide annual turnover.