It has been over a year since Elon Musk carried out his purge of blue checks on Twitter (X), the same purge that resulted in any user with the verification mark losing it. Until that moment, the blue check was only granted to real profiles of famous or relevant people in their respective fields, a way of telling users that the account was real. However, after Musk’s move, any user could get the blue checkmark simply by paying.
Almost a year and a half after this movement, the European Commission has issued a very tough judgment on Elon Musk’s company: their new system of verified accounts deceives users. Clear, direct, and to the point. “Our preliminary opinion is that X deceives users and violates the Digital Services Law,” comments Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market of the European Union.
Currently, the most relevant people in politics have a gray badge, while the highest paying companies have a golden one. However, any user can obtain the blue badge, so there are singers, actors, athletes, and many others who have a blue mark… but they are fake accounts. After all, to obtain the old blue checkmark, a thorough process had to be passed, in addition to a private investigation to verify the user was real.
In addition to this word of caution, the European Commission has also accused Twitter of not being transparent in advertising matters. “We consider that the X ad repository and the conditions for researchers’ access to data do not comply with the transparency requirements of the Digital Services Act,” says Breton.
As usual, Elon Musk has responded with his classic irony, although there’s no doubt that Twitter has opened another venue for him in Europe.
