What you need to know
- The European Commission has hit Elon Musk’s X with a €120 million penalty for misleading users with its blue checkmarks.
- Regulators ruled that selling verification badges without ID checks tricks users and fuels scams.
- The fine also targets X’s opaque advertising database and its refusal to let researchers access public data.
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The blue checkmark on X (formerly Twitter) isn't what it used to be. What was once a badge of authenticity has, according to European Union regulators, become a practice designed to trick users. The rules have now caught up with X.
Following a two-year investigation, the European Commission fined Elon Musk’s X €120 million (about $140 million). This is the first financial penalty issued under the EU’s new Digital Services Act (DSA).
If you’ve kept up with the ongoing conflict between Musk and European regulators, this outcome might not surprise you. But the reason for the fine hits closer to home for anyone who uses the platform daily.
At the heart of this €120 million ($140 million) bill is the blue checkmark. It used to indicate that someone was a verified public figure, such as a journalist, celebrity, or politician. After Musk took over, the meaning changed. Now, anyone who pays for a subscription and has a profile picture, display name, and phone number can get the badge.
Your blue check is 'deceptive'
The EU decided this change was misleading. Without proper identity checks, users can’t easily tell if an account is real. The Commission said this makes it easier for scams and impersonation to happen.
The blue checkmark wasn’t the only issue. The advertising database, which should show who buys ads, when, and to whom, was unclear. Important details, such as who paid for the ads, what they were about, and a searchable record, were missing. That fails the DSA’s transparency requirements, the EU says.
Last but not least, researchers studying disinformation or platform misuse can’t access the needed public data. X’s policies reportedly blocked scraping and imposed delays, turning access into a maze. That too violates the DSA.
X now has 60 working days to explain how it will fix the blue checkmark problem, and 90 days to meet the rules for ad transparency and data access.
If X follows the rules, it could set a new standard for how verification works on big platforms, making it clearer, more honest, and less about paying for status. Otherwise, the EU may start issuing regular fines and push for real identity checks instead of just paid subscriptions.
