Liv McMahon<\/span>Technology reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The EU has fined Elon Musk’s social media platform X \u20ac120m (\u00a3105m) over its blue tick badges – prompting an angry reaction from the US.<\/p>\n The European Commission said by allowing people to pay for a blue verified check mark on their profile, the platform “deceives users” because the firm is not “meaningfully verifying” who is behind the account.<\/p>\n “This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors,” it said<\/a>.<\/p>\n But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have criticised the EU regulator, accusing it of attacking and censoring US firms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “The European Commission’s fine isn’t just an attack on X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments,” Rubio wrote in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The days of censoring Americans online are over.”<\/p>\n His remarks were reposted by Musk, who added “absolutely”.<\/p>\n Earlier on Friday, FCC chair Brendan Carr had accused the Commission of targeting X merely because it was “a successful US tech company”. <\/p>\n “Europe is taxing Americans to subsidise a continent held back by Europe’s own suffocating regulations,” he wrote.<\/p>\n Their comments echo those made by US Vice-President JD Vance on Thursday.<\/p>\n He lashed out at the EU amid rumours of its forthcoming fine – claiming the platform was being punished “for not engaging in censorship”.<\/p>\n “The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage,” he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Social media expert Matt Navarra said the comments showed the fine was not “just a punishment [but] a statement” of the EU’s willingness to enforce its regulation of tech firms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In addition to taking issue with its use of blue ticks, EU regulators said X was also failing to provide transparency around its adverts, and it was not giving researchers access to public data.<\/p>\n “The fine issued today was calculated taking into account the nature of these infringements, their gravity in terms of affected EU users, and their duration,” the Commission said.<\/p>\n Henna Virkkunen, the regulator’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, said it was “holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability”.<\/p>\n “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU,” she said.<\/p>\n The decision means X must tell the Commission how it will bring the allegedly violating measures into compliance with EU laws, or face further, periodic fines.<\/p>\n The action constitutes the Commission’s first decision on a platform’s “non-compliance” with its Digital Services Act (DSA) – one of two rulebooks online firms must follow in order to operate their services in the EU.<\/p>\n The DSA sets out obligations for platforms around content, data and advertising, while the Digital Markets Act establishes how companies should operate in order to benefit consumers and competition.<\/p>\n Such rules have come under increased scrutiny from US leaders, who warned against tougher regulation of tech firms by governments and regulators.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Musk’s shake-up to verification formed part of a sweeping set of changes he made after acquiring Twitter in late 2022.<\/p>\n It saw the previous system – which functioned similarly to other social media verification schemes displaying someone as verified if they supply proof of who they are – cast out and replaced with one tied to its Premium subscription tier<\/a>.<\/p>\n This required people to pay a monthly subscription fee if they wanted a blue tick displayed next to their account name on the site.<\/p>\n To get a verified checkmark, an X account must have a display name and profile picture, a confirmed phone number and have been active in the previous 30 days.<\/p>\n They also cannot be “misleading or deceptive” or have engaged in spam activity.<\/p>\n Musk launched the new system as a way to incentivise people to subscribe and boost X’s overall income.<\/p>\n It also gave blue tick holders a higher presence in replies, and was mooted as a way to tackle the amount of bots on the platform.<\/p>\n But it proved highly controversial, with warnings it might open users up to scams by impersonators or fake accounts and increase the profile of bad actors and misleading content<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr Navarra said Musk’s new system marked a departure from the way platforms usually verify users.<\/p>\n “It’s a trust signal not a transaction, but on X that was flipped,” he told the BBC.<\/p>\n “There’s no meaningful ID check, there’s no rigorous validation and I think that’s where the EU has drawn the line,” he said – adding X had made itself “an easy first target” for the Commission’s scrutiny of deceptive design on social platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/d77b\/live\/7819d970-d1d3-11f0-9c0d-83f64f80aa08.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n‘Evading accountability’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Musk’s controversial blue tick changes<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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