The European Commission has fined X (formerly Twitter) €120 million for breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) in three areas: paid blue “verified” badges that mislead users, insufficient transparency in its advertising repository, and barriers preventing vetted researchers accessing public data. The Commission characterised this as the first non‑compliance decision under the DSA, issued on 5 December 2025.
Regulators said X’s paid checkmark creates a “verified” signal without meaningful identity checks, making it harder for users to judge authenticity and exposing them to impersonation and other scams. While the DSA does not require platforms to verify identity, it prohibits deceptive design that falsely presents accounts as verified.
On advertising transparency, the Commission found X’s ad repository fails to meet accessibility and completeness requirements, citing missing fields such as the content/topic and paying legal entity, and delays that undermine scrutiny. These shortcomings hinder independent checks for scams, coordinated influence operations and other risks.
The decision also points to obstacles faced by researchers. According to the Commission, X’s terms of service restrict eligible researchers from independently accessing public data, including via scraping, and impose unnecessary barriers. That, the Commission argues, weakens research into systemic risks affecting EU users.
The non‑compliance decision orders X to remedy these breaches. Under the DSA’s enforcement framework, the Commission can require a detailed action plan subject to oversight by the European Board for Digital Services and, where needed, impose periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of average daily worldwide turnover for failure to implement required measures. Fines for future breaches can reach up to 6% of global turnover.
Political reaction in Washington was immediate. FCC Chair Brendan Carr criticised the move as Europe “taxing Americans,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it an attack on US tech companies; Elon Musk amplified those messages on X. Vice‑President JD Vance had already warned against the expected fine, framing it as censorship.
EU officials rejected censorship claims. Executive Vice‑President Henna Virkkunen said practices such as deceptive blue checkmarks, opaque advertising, and shutting out researchers “have no place online in the EU,” adding the DSA protects users. The Commission said the penalty reflects the nature, gravity and duration of the infringements.
For platforms designated as Very Large Online Platforms, the ruling reiterates three operational duties. First, avoid user‑interface designs that mislead users about identity signals. Second, keep a usable, complete ad repository that allows researchers and civil society to interrogate who paid for what and to whom it was shown. Third, offer vetted researchers access to public data sufficient to study systemic risks. These requirements sit squarely within the DSA’s transparency and accountability regime.
For advertisers and civil society, practical changes should follow. EU‑based advertisers should expect clearer disclosure fields in X’s ad repository and quicker access to those records. Research groups that meet DSA vetting criteria should see more reliable pathways to public data, enabling audits of influence operations and scam detection during election periods. The checkmark policy will likely need changes to its labelling or presentation so that “verification” is not implied without verification having taken place.
The dispute also reflects X’s verification overhaul after Musk’s 2022 takeover, when identity‑based verification was replaced with paid status under the X Premium subscription. Today’s action builds on formal proceedings opened in December 2023 and additional investigatory steps in 2025, with separate DSA probes on illegal content and recommender systems still live. TikTok, by contrast, avoided a fine this week by committing to improve ad transparency.