this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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635
EU may “make an example of X” by issuing $1 billion fine to Musk’s social network (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 day ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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European Union regulators are preparing major penalties against X, including a fine that could exceed $1 billion, according to a New York Times report yesterday.

The European Commission determined last year that Elon Musk's social network violated the Digital Services Act. Regulators are now in the process of determining what punishment to impose.

"The penalties are set to include a fine and demands for product changes," the NYT report said, attributing the information to "four people with knowledge of the plans." The penalty is expected to be issued this summer and would be the first one under the new EU law.

"European authorities have been weighing how large a fine to issue X as they consider the risks of further antagonizing [President] Trump amid wider trans-Atlantic disputes over trade, tariffs and the war in Ukraine," the NYT report said. "The fine could surpass $1 billion, one person said, as regulators seek to make an example of X to deter other companies from violating the law, the Digital Services Act."

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[–] muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 11 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

What have they done to earn that fine?

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 33 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

Preliminary findings from july

  • First, X designs and operates its interface for the “verified accounts” with the “Blue checkmark” in a way that does not correspond to industry practice and deceives users. Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a “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.
  • Second, X does not comply with the required transparency on advertising, as it does not provide a searchable and reliable advertisement repository, but instead put in place design features and access barriers that make the repository unfit for its transparency purpose towards users. In particular, the design does not allow for the required supervision and research into emerging risks brought about by the distribution of advertising online.
  • Third, X fails to provide access to its public data to researchers in line with the conditions set out in the DSA. In particular, X prohibits eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data, such as by scraping, as stated in its terms of service. In addition, X's process to grant eligible researchers access to its application programming interface (API) appears to dissuade researchers from carrying out their research projects or leave them with no other choice than to pay disproportionally high fees.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_3761

[–] muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 2 points 3 hours ago

I don't agree with the first one but the other 2 seem reasonable.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 11 points 10 hours ago

Also interferes with our elections, which might get them banned completely