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Based on initial assessment European Commission Offending American entrepreneurs Elon Musk Its online platform X violated European law. According to the Brussels authorities, the company faces a heavy fine. The Commission said that the design of the online platform could mislead X users. Specifically, it is said that the way user accounts are verified could lead to other users of the platform being deceived. The new owner Musk introduced that anyone can get a “verified” account for a fee.
With Friday’s announcement, the European Commission will publish its first preliminary findings under the new EU Digital Services Act (DSA). According to the authority, X now has several months to respond to the allegations. The company could not be reached for comment.
At Twitter, the white and blue checkmark symbol for verification was previously given to celebrities, politicians and public figures after being vetted by the company. This is how it works with other online services as well. Under Musk, all Twitter subscribers will get the same checkmark as before. There were several issues, especially after the change, as fake accounts of companies and celebrities suddenly looked real. The committee said there was evidence that malicious actors were abusing such so-called verified accounts on Twitter to defraud other users.
In general, the DSA imposes high transparency requirements on online platforms, but the Commission believes that X does not meet these requirements. Among other things, it means more transparency in the advertising field and that researchers can access certain data. According to the European Commission, X violated the law on both counts.
If the Commission’s preliminary assessment is confirmed, X could face a fine of up to 6% of its annual global turnover. If this happens, the case will likely be heard by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Only estimates of X’s sales are currently known. Since Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 and delisted it from the stock exchange, figures are no longer required. Only a few details about the business have come to light. This is what the tax office wrote Bloomberg Most recently, in the first half of 2023, revenues fell 40% year-over-year to $1.48 billion.
Twitter has long been criticized for not taking decisive action against misinformation and hate speech on its platform. The DSA requires companies to take strict action against illegal content such as hate speech and online hate speech. Elon Musk has long stressed that he wants to remove what he sees as excessive restrictions on free speech on the platform.
To this end, the European Commission has sent a questionnaire to X. Previously, the platform had repeatedly mentioned illegal and misleading posts about the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel in early October 2023. Since the answers to these questions obviously did not satisfy the European Commission, it filed a lawsuit against X. Regardless of the preliminary results announced today, the lawsuit will continue.
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