Social Media Bad Practice

Specific Reasons for the Fine

The European Commission identified the following breaches, with the fine broken down accordingly:

Violation Description Fine Amount
Deceptive Blue X's paid verification badge (introduced post-2022 acquisition) €45 million
Checkmark misleads users about account authenticity, as it prioritizes ($52.4 million)
System subscribers over meaningful identity checks. This enables
scams, impersonation, and manipulation by malicious actors.

Inadequate X failed to maintain a searchable, accessible ad library, €35 million
Advertising obscuring details on political ads, scams, and targeted content. ($40.7 million)
Repository This hinders users and researchers from detecting fraud or
undue influence.

Restricted Data X obstructed independent researchers' access to public platform €40 million
Access for data, limiting scrutiny of issues like political content, hate ($46.6 million)
Researchers speech, and algorithmic biases.