X, Elon Musk’s social network, submitted a plan to the European Commission on Thursday evening (12 March) explaining how it intends to modify its ‘blue checkmarks’ system, which was criticised by the EU last December. At the time, the network was fined €120 million for multiple breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13767/1).
The European Commission found that the very design of the system that was supposed to certify the authenticity of the platform’s accounts was misleading. The ‘blue checkmark’, created in 2009, has become a simple paying service since Elon Musk took over the network, with no identity verification, a “deception” that “exposes users to scams and other forms of manipulation”, according to the European Commission.
The network had until 12 March to submit “corrective measures”. “The Commission will now carefully examine the proposed measures”, said Thomas Regnier, spokesperson for the European Commission, on Friday 13 March, without, however, specifying the content of these measures.
The European Commission noted that X has until 16 March to pay the fine laid down in the DSA. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)