Twitter (X) deceives users with its use of blue checkmarks on accounts, the European Commission has said.
As part of preliminary findings in its investigation into the company’s alleged breaches of the EU Digital Services Act, the Commission said it has three issues with the company.
It said X designs and operates verified accounts with the blue checkmark "in a way that does not correspond to industry practice and deceives users."
The Commission says that, since anyone can pay to obtain 'verified' status, it negatively "affects users' ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with".
"There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the 'verified account' to deceive users," the Commission says.
A split-screen of Elon Musk’s Twitter account and Elon Musk.The Commission said the Elon Musk-owned platform also doesn't comply with "required transparency" on advertising.
It also found the company fails to provide researchers with access to its public data in line with the conditions set out in the Digital Services Act.
"In particular, X prohibits eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data, such as by scraping, as stated in its terms of service," the Commission says.
The findings have been sent to the company which now has a right to reply.
X could now face fines of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover for a breach of the legislation.
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said all platforms have to comply.
"In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas, by using dark patterns and thus misleading users, by failing to provide an adequate ad repository, and by blocking access to data for researchers," she said.
"The DSA has transparency at its very core, and we are determined to ensure that all platforms, including X, comply with EU legislation," she added.
The European Commission opened formal proceedings against X in December 2023.
The Digital Services Act regulates online intermediaries and platforms such as marketplaces, social networks, content-sharing platforms and app stores.
