SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has accused the European Commission of offering an “illegal secret deal” to avoid fines for non-compliance with EU regulations. The allegation comes as the Commission released preliminary findings that X violates the Digital Services Act (DSA).
According to Musk, the Commission proposed that if X “quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us.” He claimed that while other platforms accepted such deals, X refused.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton swiftly denied the accusation, stating, “There has never been — and will never be — any ‘secret deal’. With anyone.” Breton welcomed the prospect of a public court battle, which Musk had suggested in an earlier post.
The dispute centers around the Commission’s preliminary findings that X’s blue checkmark system is deceptive and violates the DSA. The Commission argues that since anyone can obtain a “verified” status by paying, it negatively affects users’ ability to make informed decisions about account authenticity.
Additional charges include X’s failure to comply with ad transparency rules and inadequate data access for researchers. The platform now has an opportunity to respond and make changes before potential fines of up to 6% of its annual global revenue.
This marks the first set of charges against a tech company under the new EU social media regulations, which aim to protect European users and combat harmful or illegal content.
Agencies