EU Slaps Elon’s X With €120M Fine for Blue Checkmark Catfishing
KEY POINTS
- •The European Union fined Elon Musk’s X €120 million for violating the digital services rules in 2025.
- •EU officials flagged deceptive blue checkmarks and poor advertising transparency after investigating since December 2023.
- •The fine reflects concerns over misinformation, with a larger probe into X’s content moderation still underway.
In a €120 million (about $140M) moment that perfectly combines EU bureaucracy with Silicon Valley chaos, the European Union fined Elon Musk’s X for turning its blue checkmarks into pay-to-play identity crisis machines. The fine marks the first-ever punishment under the Digital Services Act, a law designed to stop platforms from playing digital ringmaster with users' minds. Since December 2023, Brussels scrutinized X’s shady advertising transparency, data blackout policies, and devilish “dark patterns.” X’s blue checks now scream 'Authority for sale!' after Musk let anyone with a credit card become 'verified.' The fine arrives amid Musk’s $44B 2022 Twitter buyout, followed by a mysterious $33B X AI encore in March 2025—because one mega-acquisition wasn’t enough. Meanwhile, EU boss Henna Virkkunen diplomatically called it out: 'deceiving users and shutting out researchers have no place.' Elon’s antics even risked irritating Donald Trump, who’s been subtly nudged by US tech bros to call off EU enforcement. With further investigations on harmful content ongoing, X might want to check whether its existence is a digital service or a prank gone viral.
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Elon Musk got fined €120M because apparently the EU doesn’t consider ‘pay-for-blue-check’ as genuine verification unless you count money as a personality trait.
The EU fined Elon’s X for blue checks trickery. Ironically, Twitter is now the place where anyone can be verified but no one can be trusted.
Elon Musk crushed $77 billion in acquisitions and still can’t buy himself EU’s trust or a decent blue check authenticity badge.
Source: Theverge | Published: 12/5/2025 | Author: Jess Weatherbed
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