Musk’s X fined €120m by EU in first clash under digital laws

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has been fined €120m (£105m) after it was found in breach of new EU digital laws, in a ruling likely to put the European Commission on a collision course with the US billionaire and potentially Donald Trump.

- Lisa O’Carroll

The breaches included what the EU said was a “deceptive” blue tick verification badge given to users and the lack of transparency of the platform’s advertising.

The commission rules require tech companies to provide a public list of advertisers to ensure the company’s structures guard against illegal scams, fake advertisements and coordinated campaigns in the context of political elections.

In a third breach, the EU said that X had failed to provide the required access to public data for researchers, who keep tabs on contentious issues such as political content.