X Plans To Challenge EU DSA Breach Findings

Matthew Broersma,
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Glowing sign on roof of X/Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. Image credit: X/Twitter

Social media platform X says it disagrees with EU DSA findings as chief Elon Musk says he will pursue ‘public battle in court’

Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, plans to challenge the European Union’s preliminary findings that the service violates the Digital Services Act (DSA) over issues including the alleged deceptiveness of its blue checkmark system and advertising transparency, chief executive Elon Musk has said.

The platform said in a statement it disagreed with the EU’s assessment and had done “comprehensive” work to comply with the DSA.

“We look forward to a very public battle in court, so that the people of Europe can know the truth,” Musk said in a post on X.

Earlier on Friday he claimed on the platform that the EU had offered X an “illegal secret deal” to “quietly” censor speech “without telling anyone” to avoid a fine.

Image credit: European Commission
Image credit: European Commission

‘Rule of law’

He claimed that unnamed “other platforms” had accepted the deal.

EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton said no such deal existed, but that X had the opportunity to provide concessions for a settlement.

“Be our guest,” Breton wrote on X. “There has never been — and will never be — any ‘secret deal’. With anyone. The DSA provides X (and any large platform) with the possibility to offer commitments to settle a case.

“Up to you to decide whether to offer commitments or not. That is how rule of law procedures work. See you (in court or not).”

Breton said X’s blue checkmark system had previously been used to authenticate the identity of accounts linked with public figures on the platform, but was now provided to anyone who paid for it.

Transparency

This negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed choices about the authenticity of the accounts with which they interact, contrary to the DSA’s provisions on misinformation.

The Commission also said X was in breach for failing to provide accessible information about advertisements and for blocking researchers from accessing its public data.

The company has several months to respond to the charges, but if they are confirmed it could be fined up to 6 percent of its global turnover and be required to change its business practices.

“X has now the right of defence — but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines and require significant changes,” Breton said in a statement.

The Commission is conducting separate DSA investigations of TikTok, AliExpress and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.