EU hits Elon Musk's X social media platform with 120 mln euro fine

The European Commission on Friday imposed fines totaling 120 million euros (nearly 140 million U.S. dollars) on Elon Musk's social media platform X for breaching transparency obligations in its first non-compliance decision under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

This marks the first time the European Union's executive arm has issued such a non-compliance ruling under the DSA, which came into force in 2022 and took full effect last February. The act regulates online intermediaries and platforms to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and stop the spread of disinformation.

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EU hits Elon Musk's X social media platform with 120 mln euro fine

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EU hits Elon Musk's X social media platform with 120 mln euro fine

According to the Commission's press release, the penalty stems from three distinct breaches of the DSA, including the deceptive design of X's "blue checkmark" feature, a lack of transparency in its advertising repository, and the platform's failure to provide researchers with access to public data.

The use of the blue checkmark, which any user can obtain by paying, to designate "verified accounts" exposes users to scams, including impersonation fraud and other forms of manipulation, according to the Commission.

It added that X's advertisement repository fails to meet the DSA's transparency and accessibility requirements, and that the platform also falls short of its obligation to provide researchers with access to its public data.

The decision follows formal proceedings opened in December 2023 to examine whether X breached the DSA in areas related to illegal content dissemination and measures to counter information manipulation, for which the investigation continues.

X is not the only U.S. tech company to come under heavy scrutiny from the European Commission.

On Thursday, the Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into Mark Zuckerberg's Meta organization over a new policy that could limit artificial intelligence providers' access to the popular WhatsApp messaging service.

The Commission also announced a new investigation into Google last month, after slapping a 2.95-billion-euro fine on the internet giant for antitrust violations in the online advertising sector in September.

The United States has repeatedly criticized the EU's regulatory measures as being targeted at American companies, while Google, Amazon, and other major firms have recently said they will file appeals against the latest EU regulatory decisions.

The SCO (Lianyungang) International Logistics Park in east China's Jiangsu Province handled over 6.69 million tonnes of cargo in January, up 3.66 percent year on year, according to the Nanjing Customs.

The transported goods mainly included six categories such as auto parts, photovoltaic modules, and general consumer goods, with business covering major countries in Central Asia and Southeast Asia.