European Commission fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act

IRIS 2026-1:1/12

Paola Bellissens

European Audiovisual Observatory

On 5 December 2025, the European Commission ordered social network X to pay a fine of €120 million. This fine follows the opening of formal proceedings by the European institution on 18 December 2023, which aimed to assess whether X had breached the provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The amount of the fine was determined on the basis of the infringements committed, including their gravity, duration and impact. The Commission considered that the social network had failed to fulfil its obligations for three reasons.

Firstly, the Commission ruled that the use of the "blue checkmark" to denote certified accounts was misleading. This checkmark could be purchased by any user in order to obtain certification without any verification by X. This constituted an infringement of the DSA's obligation to prohibit deceptive practices. Such certifications meant that X users were more likely to be deceived, defrauded and manipulated.

Secondly, it was considered that X's advertising repository did not meet the transparency and accessibility criteria set out in Article 15 of the DSA. This repository should be available and accessible to enable researchers and civil society to identify scams, threats and false advertising. Some of the information in the repository set up by X was incorrect. These shortcomings prevented researchers from examining the potential risks of online advertising.

Thirdly, the Commission concluded that X had not complied with its obligation to grant researchers access to the platform's audience data. In the present case, researchers could no longer independently access the data. In addition, the procedures put in place by the social network to provide access to the data were fraught with obstacles. This undermined research into several systemic risks within the EU.

From 5 December 2025, X had 60 working days to inform the Commission of the measures it intended to take regarding the blue checkmark. It also had 90 working days to remedy infringements relating to the advertising repository and researchers' access to public data. Following these deadlines, the Commission will have one month to issue its final decision.