X's Blue Tick 'Deception' Costs Musk €120 Million

• The European Union has fined Elon Musk's social media platform X €120 million (£105 million), citing its paid blue tick system as "deceptive."
• Regulators argue the system, which lacks meaningful identity verification, exposes users to scams and impersonation fraud.
• The move has sparked outrage from prominent US officials, who label the fine an attack on American tech companies and free speech.
• This marks the first major enforcement action under the EU's landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), signaling a new era of tech regulation.

EU Slams X Over Paid Verification

The European Commission has levied a staggering €120 million fine against Elon Musk's X, targeting the platform's controversial paid verification system. Regulators declared that allowing users to purchase a blue checkmark without "meaningfully verifying" their identity "deceives users" and creates a breeding ground for manipulation.

"This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors," the Commission stated in its announcement.

Henna Virkkunen, the regulator's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, emphasized the platform's failure to protect its users. "Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU," she said, adding that the EU is "holding X responsible for undermining users' rights and evading accountability."

US Officials Fire Back in Defense of X

The decision was met with immediate and fierce criticism from the United States. US Senator Marco Rubio accused the EU of targeting American businesses and citizens.

"The European Commission's fine isn't just an attack on X, it's an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments," Rubio wrote in a post on X, which was promptly endorsed by Elon Musk with the word "absolutely."

Echoing this sentiment, FCC Chair Brendan Carr described the EU's actions as "suffocating regulations," while Senator JD Vance claimed the platform was being punished "for not engaging in censorship."

The Controversy Behind the Blue Tick

After acquiring Twitter in late 2022, Musk overhauled the platform's verification process. The legacy system, which verified the identity of notable figures, was replaced with a feature tied to the X Premium subscription. For a monthly fee, any user could obtain a blue tick, provided their account met basic criteria like having a profile picture and a confirmed phone number.

While Musk promoted the change as a way to generate revenue and combat bots, critics immediately warned it would legitimize impersonators and amplify misinformation.

An Easy First Target

According to social media expert Matt Navarra, the fine is more than just a punishment; it's a "statement" of the EU's resolve to enforce its new digital rulebook. He explained that verification should be a "trust signal, not a transaction," a principle X inverted.

"There's no meaningful ID check, there's no rigorous validation and I think that's where the EU has drawn the line," Navarra said, concluding that X had made itself "an easy first target" for the Commission's first major action under the DSA.