The European Commission (EC) accused Elon Musk’s X of violating multiple rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA), following a seven-month long investigation into the social media platform.

In a statement, EC outlined three “main grievances” in the way X operates as an online platform, as it singled out the app’s “blue checkmark” policy, non-transparent advertising, and practices which render its public data inaccessible to researchers.

The authority explained X’s interface for blue checkmark or account verification “does not correspond to industry practice” since “anyone can obtain to such verified status”, resulting in users being deceived about the authenticity of accounts and content they interact with.

“There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the ‘verified account’ to deceive users,” EC added.

Also commenting, commissioner for internal market Thierry Breton said: “Back in the day, blue checks used to mean trustworthy sources of information. Now with X, our preliminary view is that they deceive users and infringe the DSA.”

EC further argued X does not comply with the “required transparency” on online ads, pointing to the app’s design which “does not allow for the required supervision and research into emerging risks brought about by the distribution of advertising online”.

X also attempted to “dissuade” researchers from gathering public information about the company by prohibiting access to the data, instead directing them to an API and “disproportionately high fees”, EC explained.

“In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas, by using dark patterns and thus misleading users, by failing to provide an adequate ad repository, and by blocking access to data for researchers,” said EC EVP for competition policy Margrethe Vestager.

EC had informed the company of its findings and gave it time to exercise its rights of defence. The probe could lead to a fine of up to 6 per cent of X’s global turnover rate.

The European regulator also opened investigations into Meta Platforms, TikTok and AliExpress.