Elon Musk, CTO and chairman of X, made some serious accusations against the European Commission (EC) in regards to an alleged secret deal offered to the social media platform. According to Musk, the EC proposed that X should censor speech quietly in order to avoid being fined in the EU. Musk took to social media on July 12 to publicly address these claims after the EC published their preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act (DSA) which pointed out that X does not comply with certain transparency requirements.
The investigation conducted by the European Commission revealed several areas in which X breached the DSA. These areas include dark patterns, advertising transparency, and data access for researchers. The report highlighted concerns regarding the platform’s “Blue checkmarks” and verified accounts, stating that they can easily be obtained by anyone and are often abused by malicious actors. In addition, X was found to lack a reliable and searchable advertising repository, making it difficult for proper supervision and research.
X’s terms of service were also brought into question as they ban scraping and allegedly dissuade researchers from accessing public data due to high fees involved in the API access process. The EC has given X the opportunity to respond in writing to the preliminary findings and consult further with the European Board for Digital Services. However, the final decision has yet to be made and X could potentially face fines of up to 6% of their worldwide annual turnover if found non-compliant. Moreover, X may have to make significant changes in order to continue their operations within the EU, including enhanced supervision and penalty payments.
The allegations made by Elon Musk against the European Commission shed light on the challenges that X is facing in terms of regulatory compliance. The findings of the investigation demonstrate the areas in which X has fallen short of meeting the requirements set forth in the DSA. It remains to be seen how X will respond to these accusations and what steps they will take to rectify the situation.
