EU Sues Elon Musk's X Over Blue Checks And Advertising

The European Union has filed its first charges under a new social media law, accusing Elon Musk's X of violating the regulation by misleading users and failing to meet transparency requirements.

European regulators claim that when Musk relaunched the blue check verification system after acquiring Twitter in late 2022, he allowed anyone to pay for the badge, resulting in a surge of spoof accounts, impersonators, and misleading information.

“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 wrote in its findings.

European authorities also criticised Musk for other violations, stating that X's ad database is not "searchable and reliable," which hinders researchers from studying "emerging risks," like harmful ads targeting vulnerable groups.

According to the new law, X is required to maintain a database of all its digital advertisements, including information on the sponsors and the target audience for each ad.

If Musk fails to address the issues, X could be fined up to 6% of its annual global revenue, which could amount to tens of millions of dollars.