EU Fines Elon Musk's X for Deceptive Paid Checkmarks

The European Commission has announced that Elon Musk's social media platform, X, is in breach of the Digital Services Act. The commission claims that there is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the "verified account" feature to deceive users. This finding was made after a seven-month-long investigation under the Digital Services Act. If confirmed, X could be fined up to 6 percent of its worldwide annual turnover. The European Commission's preliminary view is that X is in breach of the act, and it has informed Musk of this finding. The commission's concerns center on the blue checkmark system used by X to verify accounts, which it believes is misleading users. This marks the third company in as many weeks to face regulatory action for violating the landmark new rules.