X’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier, fired back at the European Commission this weekend after the EC fined the social media company €120 million. This marks the first fine under the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The commission labeled X’s blue checkmark system as “deceptive,” stating the paid verification makes users vulnerable to impersonation and scams. The commission also said X’s advertising repository failed to meet the DSA’s requirements for transparency and accessibility.
X must respond within 60 days regarding the blue checkmark concerns and within 90 days for the advertising violations, or it could face additional penalties. Following the announcement, X owner Elon Musk called the fine “bullshit” and posted a message questioning the future of the EU.
Now X appears to have penalized the commission’s own account on the platform. The company claims this action is not related to the fine, but rather the commission’s use of X’s advertising system. Quoting the commission’s post about the fine, Bier accused the EC of logging into a dormant ad account to exploit a flaw in the Ad Composer. He stated this was done to post a link that deceives users into thinking it is a video and to artificially increase its reach.
Bier wrote that X believes everyone should have an equal voice on the platform, but it seems the commission believes the rules should not apply to its account. As a result, he said the commission’s ad account has been terminated. Bier later stated this specific exploit had never been abused in this manner and has since been patched.
A European Commission spokesperson told TechCrunch that the commission always uses all social media platforms in good faith. The spokesperson said the Commission simply uses the tools that platforms make available to corporate accounts, as was the case with the Post Composer tool on X. They expect these tools to be fully in line with the platforms’ own terms and conditions, as well as with the legislative framework.
The spokesperson added that the commission suspended paid advertising on X in October 2023, and that suspension remains in effect.