EU Accuses Elon Musk's X of Deception and Censorship Concerns

Elon Musk Reveals European Commission Offered X 'Illegal Secret Deal' To Censor Free Speech As Thierry Breton Slams Platform's 'Blue Checks' As Deceptive

The European Union Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has leveled charges against Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, alleging deceptive practices and lack of transparency. The tech billionaire has now alleged that the commission "offered X an illegal secret deal." What Happened: On Friday, Breaton took to X and accused the social media platform acquired by Musk of falling short of the standards set by the Digital Services Act of the 27-nation bloc. He criticized X's blue checkmarks, saying that these were once exclusive and signified "trustworthy sources of information." However now, blue badges are accessible to anyone willing to pay $8 per month. See Also: Two Months After Mark Zuckerberg Threw Shade At Vision Pro, Analyst Says Apple's VR Glasses Will Fall Short Of 500K Units In 2024, Half Of Tim Cook's Initial 1M Target Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. In response to the accusations, Musk said, "The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not." Breton refuted these allegations, asserting that no "secret deal" has ever been made. Why It Matters: Earlier this month, the EU also issued a warning to X for failing to control harmful content. This was the third major action taken by EU regulators against prominent tech companies in recent weeks. X now has an opportunity to address the accusations and implement the necessary changes to comply, making them legally binding. If the commission is unsatisfied, it can impose penalties of up to 6% of the company's annual global revenue and mandate corrective action. TikTok, the e-commerce platform AliExpress, and Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, are also under ongoing DSA investigations. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Read Next: Samsung's Push For Nvidia To Adopt High-Bandwidth Memory Comes Under Cloud As Workers Declare Indefinite Strike -- Global Tech Production At Risk Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Elon Musk's X Misleading, 'Deceiving' Users with Blue Checks: EU

EU regulators have acted on the basis of a formal warning launched against X under the Digital Services Act (DSA). (Image: Reuters) Tech billionaire Elon Musk's X platform is misleading users with its blue checkmarks for certified accounts, and is also violating EU content rules, Brussels said Friday, in a finding that could lead to hefty fines. EU regulators are unhappy with the blue badge system under Musk's ownership since anyone can now obtain it with a premium subscription, whereas before it was reserved for verified accounts including leaders, companies and journalists, after approval. The formal warning against X is the first under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping law that forces digital companies do more to police content online. It follows a probe launched in December 2023. X becomes the third company in as many weeks to face the European Union's wrath for violating landmark new rules, after Brussels warned Apple and Meta to change their ways or risk massive fines -- for breaches of a second law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Musk has overhauled the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, including changing its name, since purchasing it in October 2022. But his plans for X have put him at odds with Brussels since the EU wants big tech to do more to protect users online and increase competition in the digital sphere. Now the European Commission has told X of its preliminary view that it is "in breach of" the DSA, arguing that the social network "deceives" users with its new blue badge rules. "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," the commission said in a statement. "There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the 'verified account' to deceive users," it added. The commission also accused X of failing to comply with rules on advertising transparency -- since it does "not provide a searchable and reliable" ad database -- and failing to give researchers access to public data. "X has now the right of defence -- but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines and require significant changes," the EU's top digital official, Thierry Breton, said. Fines under the DSA can go as high as six percent of a company's total worldwide annual turnover and force it to make changes to address violations. X will be able to examine the EU's file and defend itself against Friday's finding. There is no time limit on how long an investigation may last. EU regulators' wide-ranging probe into X also continues to look into the spread of illegal content and the effectiveness of the platform's efforts to combat disinformation, the commission said. Under the DSA, X is one of 25 "very large" online platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, with more than 45 million monthly active users in the 27-country EU. X is also in the EU's crosshairs for a cut to content moderation resources. In May, the EU told X to hand over "detailed information and internal documents" and demanded more information about steps taken to mitigate risks from generative AI on elections. There are currently other investigations under the DSA into Meta's Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok and AliExpress. The DSA and the DMA are both part of the EU's bolstered legal armoury targeting big tech and EU regulators have stepped up enforcement of the laws since they came into force.

Musk's X 'deceives' users with blue checks, EU charges

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) - Tech billionaire Elon Musk's X platform is misleading users with its blue checkmarks for certified accounts, and is also violating EU content rules, Brussels said Friday, in a finding that could lead to hefty fines. EU regulators are unhappy with the blue badge system under Musk's ownership since anyone can now obtain it with a premium subscription, whereas before it was reserved for verified accounts including leaders, companies and journalists, after approval. The formal warning against X is the first under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping law that forces digital companies do more to police content online. It follows a probe launched in December 2023. X becomes the third company in as many weeks to face the European Union's wrath for violating landmark new rules, after Brussels warned Apple and Meta to change their ways or risk massive fines -- for breaches of a second law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Musk has overhauled the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, including changing its name, since purchasing it in October 2022. But his plans for X have put him at odds with Brussels since the EU wants big tech to do more to protect users online and increase competition in the digital sphere. Now the European Commission has told X of its preliminary view that it is "in breach of" the DSA, arguing that the social network "deceives" users with its new blue badge rules. "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," the commission said in a statement. "There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the 'verified account' to deceive users," it added. The commission also accused X of failing to comply with rules on advertising transparency -- since it does "not provide a searchable and reliable" ad database -- and failing to give researchers access to public data. "X has now the right of defence -- but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines and require significant changes," the EU's top digital official, Thierry Breton, said. Fines under the DSA can go as high as six percent of a company's total worldwide annual turnover and force it to make changes to address violations. X will be able to examine the EU's file and defend itself against Friday's finding. There is no time limit on how long an investigation may last. EU regulators' wide-ranging probe into X also continues to look into the spread of illegal content and the effectiveness of the platform's efforts to combat disinformation, the commission said. Tech in its sights Under the DSA, X is one of 25 "very large" online platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, with more than 45 million monthly active users in the 27-country EU. X is also in the EU's crosshairs for a cut to content moderation resources. In May, the EU told X to hand over "detailed information and internal documents" and demanded more information about steps taken to mitigate risks from generative AI on elections. There are currently other investigations under the DSA into Meta's Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok and AliExpress. The DSA and the DMA are both part of the EU's bolstered legal armoury targeting big tech and EU regulators have stepped up enforcement of the laws since they came into force.

Elon Musk's X Accused by EU of Deceiving Users

European regulators said the company also fails to provide an adequate advertising repository to comply with transparency laws, and its policy of charging researchers to access data violates the law as well. Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, was accused by European regulators Friday of violating the Digital Services Act (DSA) with its policies around verification, advertising transparency, and data access. "In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas, by using dark patterns and thus misleading users, by failing to provide an adequate ad repository, and by blocking access to data for researchers," European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said. Among three grievances cited, the European Commission said that X's verification system, which was overhauled under Elon Musk's ownership, "deceives" users by letting anyone pay to receive a blue check, removing the legitimacy that came with the check previously. The Commission also found violations with regard to X's policies around advertising and who can access its data. The company falls short of the transparency in advertising portion of the DSA because it "does not provide a searchable and reliable advertisement repository," the Commission said. X fails to provide adequate access to its public data to researchers as well, the Commission said, as the company has raised prices to access company data and outlawed the "scraping" of data on the platform, which Musk previously reportedly said was to avoid X content being used to train artificial intelligence models without the company being compensated. "Busy now, please check back later," the company responded when reached for comment by email. X will have a chance to respond to the issues raised by the Commission, but could face significant fines if it fails to comply with the law in the future.