Elon Musk’s Platform X violates EU digital laws by misleading users and lacking transparency, the European Commission said in a preliminary opinion on Friday.
The commission said X’s user verification system, known as the blue tick system, is vulnerable to abuse by “motivated malicious actors” because anyone can buy a blue tick.
The blue tick system previously “indicated reliable sources of information,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
“Now with X, our preliminary view is that they are misleading users,” Breton said.
“X now has the right to defend himself, but if our opinion is confirmed, we will impose financial penalties and demand significant changes,” he added.
Under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), social platforms with more than 45 million active users like X are subject to far-reaching content moderation rules.