The European Commission finalized its preliminary findings on X, and it does not look good

The Commission recently communicated its findings to the social media platform X, regarding its compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission's preliminary view is that X, formerly Twitter, is in breach of the DSA in areas related to dark patterns, transparency about advertising, and willingness to grant access to its data for research purposes. In particular, the European Commission has found that

1. the blue checkmark mechanism is misleading since it is now subscription-based and anyone can access it. Moreover, it was once used to signal that the account in question was verified, and thus, trustworthy. The Commission states there is evidence of malicious actors that have abused this confusion to deceive users.
2. The platform lacks a searchable advertisement repository. Instead, the Commission reports that design elements and blocks make research into the potential risks brought about by ad distribution impossible.
3. X does not allow independent access for eligible researchers to public data by scraping or other similar methods, leaving access through an application programming interface (API) as the only option, which forces researchers to choose between abandoning their projects or paying costly fees for access.

The reported findings emerged from an extensive investigation that included revising internal documentation, expert interviews, and the participation of Digital Services Coordinators. This investigation stage is not final; X can exercise its right of defense as it sees fit and publish a written reply once it has examined the Commission's documentation.

If the Commission's findings are confirmed once the right of defense is effected, X, a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the DSA since 25 April 2023, would be officially held as non-compliant and in breach of Articles 25, 39, and 40(12) of the DSA. That status would make X potentially subject to fines of up to 6% of its yearly global turnover, and the platform would also acquire the obligation to address the breach. The non-compliant status would also mean that X would be subject to additional supervision to ensure it correctly addresses the issue and that the Commission could enforce additional periodic penalty payments to enforce compliance.

The investigation into X is part of a wider effort that includes formal proceedings against Meta (April and May 2024), TikTok (February and April 2024), and AliExpress (March 2024).