Musk's X to change verification system in Europe: Report

Elon Musk's social media company X has agreed to change its verification mechanism in the European Union following a fine of 120 million euros, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing a European Commission spokesperson.

X was fined ‌in December ⁠by ⁠EU tech regulators for breaching online content rules, the first ​sanction under a landmark legislation that drew criticism from the ​U.S. government.

The Bloomberg report quoted European Commissionspokesperson Thomas Regnier saying that X ​submitted remedies inrelation to its ⁠blue check ‌mark verification feature.


The European Commission ​and X ​did not immediately respondto Reuters requests ⁠for comment. Regnier said the commission will ​assess the proposedremedies, according to the report.

The EU sanction against X had followed a two-year-longinvestigation under the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA), whichrequires online platforms to do more to tackle illegal andharmful content.

The European Commission in July ‌2024 had charged X withdeceiving users, saying that the blue checkmark does notcorrespond ​to industry ​practices and that ⁠anyone can pay to geta "verified" status.

The blue checkmark had previously indicated that anaccount belonged to a public ​figure whose identity was verified,but Musk changed it to indicate it belonged to a paid subscriberafter acquiring X in 2022.

Musk acquired X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44billion.