EU Rules X Blue checkmark “Devices Users”

The European Commission has ruled that X’s (formerly Twitter’s) blue verification checkmark “misleads users” and constitutes a type of “dark pattern”.

Elon Musk changed the meaning of the blue X check mark, so that anyone can get a check mark by signing up for a Premium account. The EU investigated the change and ruled that it violated the Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates advertising, transparency, and dark patterns (a term for UI/UX practices intended to deceive or mislead users).

The EU found that X did not meet the requirements in three areas:

• First, X designs and operates its interface for “verified accounts” with a “blue checkmark” in a way that is inconsistent with industry practice and deceives users. Because anyone can sign up for this “verified” status, it negatively impacts users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of accounts and the content they interact with. There is evidence that motivated malicious actors are abusing the “verified account” to deceive users.
• Second, X fails to meet the advertising transparency requirements because it does not provide a searchable and reliable repository of ads, but instead introduces design features and access barriers that make the repository unsuitable for transparency to users. In particular, the design does not allow for the required oversight and research into emerging risks arising from the distribution of online ads.
• Third, X does not provide access to its public data to researchers in accordance with the terms set forth in the DSA. In particular, X prohibits authorized researchers from independently accessing its public data, e.g., through scraping, in accordance with its terms of service. Furthermore, X’s process for granting authorized researchers access to its application programming interface (API) appears to discourage researchers from pursuing their research projects or leave them no other choice but to pay disproportionately high fees.

X now has a chance to defend its position. However, if the original ruling is upheld, the company could face fines of up to 6% of its annual revenue worldwide.

“Today, for the first time, we are publishing preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act,” said EU competition commission chief Margrethe Vestager. “In our view, X is failing to comply with the DSA in key areas of transparency, by using dark patterns that mislead users, failing to provide an adequate repository for advertising, and blocking access to data for researchers. The DSA has transparency at its heart and we are determined to ensure that all platforms, including X, comply with EU law.”

“BlueChecks used to stand for trustworthy sources of information,” added Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market. “Now, in the case of X, our preliminary view is that they are deceiving users and are in breach of the DSA. We also believe that X’s ad repository and the terms of researchers’ access to data are not in line with the DSA’s transparency requirements. X now has the right to defend itself – but if our view is confirmed, we will impose fines and demand significant changes.”