EU Commission fines X €120m under the Digital Services Act

The European Commission has imposed a €120 million fine on X for breaches of transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The decision identifies three main areas of non-compliance: the way X designs and presents its “blue checkmark” for “verified accounts,” shortcomings in its advertising repository, and barriers affecting researchers’ access to public platform data.

First, the Commission found that X’s design of the blue checkmark can mislead users about whether an account has been meaningfully verified. Because users can obtain “verified” status through payment without robust verification of identity, the label may create a false impression of authenticity. The Commission links this to heightened risks of deception, including impersonation fraud and other manipulative behaviour. While the DSA does not require platforms to verify users, it does prohibit platforms from misrepresenting verification.

Second, the Commission concluded that X’s ads repository does not meet the DSA’s standards for transparency and accessibility. The Commission emphasised that ad repositories should make it possible for independent actors—such as researchers and civil society—to examine advertising practices and detect risks ranging from scams to coordinated campaigns and misleading promotions. In its assessment, the repository’s design and access features do not sufficiently support that oversight. The Commission also pointed to missing elements that reduce the repository’s usefulness for scrutiny, including key information about advertisements and the entities paying for them.

Third, the Commission stated that X failed to provide eligible researchers with effective access to public data needed for research into systemic risks. It highlighted restrictions and barriers that hinder independent analysis and reduce the ability to study platform-related risks at scale.

The Commission indicated that the level of the fine reflects the nature of the breaches, their seriousness for users in the EU, and their duration. It also framed the decision as a significant enforcement step under the DSA, signalling that transparency requirements for large platforms are not optional and that design choices—particularly those that shape user trust—will be assessed as part of compliance.

Overall, the decision reinforces a clear regulatory direction: platforms must provide credible signals of authenticity, enable meaningful ad transparency, and support legitimate research access to public data so that systemic risks can be identified, tested, and addressed.

Source: Commission fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act | Shaping Europe’s digital future