EU metes out first-ever Digital Services Act fine, dings X for blue check deception

The European Union has issued its first-ever Digital Services Act fine, slapping Elon Musk's X with a €120 million penalty for breaching the bloc's rules on ad transparency, data access for researchers, and its revamped blue-checkmark system.

The fine, equivalent to $140 million, comes two years after the EU began investigating X for what the Commission said at the time were concerns over the Musk-owned network's handling of "risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency, and data access for researchers." The fine issued Friday concerns advertising transparency and researcher access to data, as well as X's overhaul of its blue check account verification system, which the EU said violates the DSA's provisions on deceptive design practices. 

For those who've opted to purge their memory banks to make room for more valuable information, X, when it was still known as Twitter before Musk bought ...