New Delhi: The European Union (EU) has taken a big step regarding the violation of digital rules on Elon Musk’s social media platform X. A huge fine of 120 million euros i.e. approximately Rs 1,080 crore has been imposed on X for breaking the rules of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). According to the European Commission, X’s platform violated three main rules related to transparency and user protection, due to which users could be misled about the blue tick mark and advertising database.
The EU says that X did not follow the transparency standards set out in the DSA. This law asks platforms to ensure that users remain safe and avoid false content or scams. The Commission also made it clear that heavy fines can be imposed on those who break the rules in DSA.
According to the EU, the blue checkmarks on the X were designed to mislead users. This increases the risk of scams, fake accounts and manipulation. The Commission described it as a fraudulent design and said that it goes against EU online security standards.
Under EU rules, platforms have to provide a database of all their advertisements, which has clear information about who placed the advertisements, which target audience they were for and for what purpose. But the Commission found that there is a delay in accessing X’s database and the information remains incomplete. Such design features make it difficult for researchers to identify fake advertisements and propaganda.
The investigation also revealed that the X platform creates “unnecessary barriers” for researchers to access data. The EU says that this step is against the spirit of transparency and public interest. The Executive Vice President of the EU issued a statement saying that deception, hiding advertising and hindering research are not acceptable in European digital laws and this is what the DSA protects against.
Comments are closed.