European Union Fines X ?120 Million Over ‘Misleading’ Blue Tick Badges

The European Union has imposed a ¤120 million penalty on social media platform X, accusing the company of using a misleading design for its blue tick verification badges— a feature that shifted from identity verification to paid subscription after Elon Musk acquired the platform in 2022.

According to the European Commission, the redesigned badges blurred the line between verified public figures and paid subscribers, potentially deceiving users, advertisers, and political audiences. The Commission stated that despite repeated requests, X failed to provide a transparent list of advertisers and also did not grant researchers adequate access to public data, which is required for monitoring election influence, misinformation, and fraudulent activity.

The penalty marks the conclusion of a key segment of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) investigation, though broader inquiries into illegal content distribution and misinformation practices on the platform are still ongoing.