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Taking strict action against Elon Musk’s social media platform X, the European Union has imposed a heavy fine for violation of digital rules. According to the European Commission, the platform did not comply with several provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA), due to which a penalty of 120 million euros i.e. about Rs 1,080 crore has been imposed on it.

X ignored the rules

The Commission says that X ignored three important rules to transparency and user security, due to which users could be confused about information to blue ticks and advertisements. The EU DSA law aims to make online platforms accountable and transparent, so that users do not fall victim to misinformation, misleading advertising and scams. Regulators have made it clear that strict action will be taken against any platform that does not follow these standards. This fine imposed on X is part of the strict interpretation of this rule.

The Commission alleges that the design of the blue checkmark on the This makes it difficult to differentiate between real and fake accounts, which could increase the risk of scams, fake profiles and online fraud. The EU called it a design based on deception and said that it is completely against digital security standards.

Questions raised regarding transparency

Apart from this, questions were also raised on X regarding advertising transparency. The DSA requires each platform to provide a clear and easily accessible database of all advertisements displayed on its platform. It should contain information about who placed the advertisements, who was their target and what was their objective. But investigation found that X’s advertising database was not only incomplete, but it also took time to access. This makes it difficult for researchers to identify fake advertisements and online disinformation.

The investigation also revealed that researchers face many unnecessary difficulties in accessing data on X. EU officials say such barriers go against both transparency and the public interest. The Executive Vice President of the European Commission said in his statement that hiding features, advertising and limiting research based on deception are not acceptable in European digital laws. DSA provides protection to citizens from these problems.