Social networks, 15.07.2024, 12:00 PM
The European Commission officially said on Friday that it believes X (formerly Twitter) has breached EU technology regulations and could face a fine of up to 6% of its global annual turnover.
It follows an investigation launched last December, with the European Commission’s preliminary findings that X is in breach of sections of the Digital Services Act (DSA) relating to “misleading patterns, transparency of advertising and access to data for researchers”.
The commission specifically criticized X for selling “blue ticks” for verified accounts to subscribers “in a way that is inconsistent with industry practice and misleads users” by undermining their ability “to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of their accounts and the content they interact with.”
The commission said there was “evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing ‘verified accounts’ to defraud users.”
X can appeal the preliminary findings before the final decision is made.
“If our opinion is confirmed, we will impose fines and demand significant changes,” said Thierry Breton, the EU’s single market commissioner.
The platform has also been criticized for not complying with European Union laws requiring transparency of ads on social networks.
Third, the Commission criticized the platform for not providing access to its public data for researchers.
Other social networks are also currently under scrutiny by the European Commission for potential DSA violations, including TikTok and Meta, which face a similar maximum fine of 6% of their global traffic.
Photo: Alexander Shatov | Unsplash
Source: www.informacija.rs
