The European Commission has fined social media platform X €120 million for breaching transparency obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), in the first formal non-compliance decision issued under the new regime.
The Commission found that X, formerly Twitter, failed to meet legal duties on advertising transparency and access to data, including obligations linked to public scrutiny of political advertising.
The decision, announced on 5 December, follows formal proceedings opened in December 2023 into whether X was complying with the DSA’s rules for so-called “very large online platforms”, which carry heightened responsibilities due to their scale and influence. The investigation examined transparency, design of user interfaces, advertising practices and access to data for regulators and researchers.
In its decision, the Commission concluded that X committed three distinct infringements. First, the company’s paid “blue checkmark” system for “verified” accounts was deemed a deceptive design, because the label suggested verification of identity even though, in practice, users could purchase the badge without meaningful checks. Second, X’s advertising repository lacked required information and was difficult to access in practice. Third, X failed to provide authorised researchers with effective access to public data on the platform.
The transparency failings identified by the Commission include the operation of a publicly accessible repository of online advertising. Under the DSA, large platforms must maintain a searchable archive detailing each advert’s content, sponsor and key targeting parameters, so that regulators, researchers and the wider public can track commercial and political messaging online, particularly around election periods. The Commission found that X’s register did not consistently disclose who paid for advertisements, their topic or why they were shown to particular users, and that authorities and users could not reliably access an up-to-date archive of such material, including political advertising.
On data access, regulators concluded that X’s terms of service and technical measures prevented eligible researchers from collecting and analysing public-facing data at scale, for example through scraping or dedicated interfaces. According to the Commission, these restrictions and procedural hurdles undermined the purpose of the DSA provisions intended to support independent research into systemic risks, such as disinformation campaigns, foreign interference and the spread of illegal content within the EU.
According to officials, the €120 million penalty is divided between the three infringements, with approximately €45 million attributed to the blue check system, €35 million to deficiencies in the advertising repository and €40 million to failures on researcher access to public data. The total remains below the DSA’s ceiling of up to 6% of a company’s worldwide annual turnover for the most serious violations.
The DSA has applied in full since February 2024, with very large online platforms such as X brought under its obligations earlier, from August 2023. It requires such services to assess and mitigate systemic risks, to ensure transparency about how content and advertising are recommended to users, and to give regulators and vetted researchers access to specified categories of data. Enforcement against the biggest platforms is centralised at EU level, with the Commission acting as the primary regulator.
The X decision sits alongside wider enforcement activity under the DSA. On the same day, the Commission announced that it had accepted commitments from TikTok to improve its advertising transparency in lieu of a fine, while separate proceedings continue against other large platforms, including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, in areas such as systemic risk management and advertising practices.
Political reaction has been divided. In the United States, senior figures in the Trump administration and in Congress criticised the move as an attack on American technology companies, while Commission officials have stressed that the law applies uniformly to all designated services, regardless of ownership or nationality. Elon Musk has publicly objected to the decision on X itself.
Under EU law, X may challenge the decision before the General Court in Luxembourg. At the same time, the company is required to bring its systems into line with DSA transparency rules within specified deadlines, or face the risk of further penalties, including periodic fines. Other strands of the Commission’s investigation into X, notably on the handling of illegal content and the operation of its recommender systems, remain open.
For other large platforms operating in the EU, the case provides a concrete illustration of how the DSA’s transparency provisions will be interpreted and enforced. It indicates that the Commission is prepared to act on design choices, such as verification labels, and on the technical and practical accessibility of advertising archives and research data, rather than focusing solely on content removal. Further enforcement decisions in the coming months are expected to clarify how far-reaching those obligations will be across the wider digital ecosystem.
