Nikita Bia, head of product at X, hit back at the European Commission this weekend after it fined the social media company 120 million euros (about $140 million).
In the first fine under the European Union’s Digital Services Act, the commission called X’s blue checkmark system “deceptive” and said the paid verification system left users vulnerable to identity theft and fraud. The commission also said that X’s ad repository does not meet the DSA’s requirements for transparency and accessibility.
The commission said X must respond to blue checkmark concerns within 60 days and advertising transparency violations within 90 days or face additional penalties.
After the fine was announced, X owner Elon Musk described it as “bullshit” and also posted: “How long until the EU disappears? AbolishTheEU.”
Now, it appears that X has imposed a penalty on the Commission’s account on its platform, but the company says the fine is not because of the commission’s use of X’s advertising system, but rather because of the Commission’s use of X’s advertising system.
Citing the commission’s post announcing the fine, X’s Bier accused the EC of “logging into dormant advertising accounts in order to take advantage of Ad Composer’s exploits, posting links that trick users into thinking they were videos and artificially expand their reach.”
“As you know, X believes everyone should have an equal voice on our platform,” Beer wrote. “But it seems like you don’t think the rules should apply to your account.”
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As a result, the commission’s advertising account has been “suspended,” he said. Beer later said the exploit had “never been exploited in this way” and was being patched.
A European Commission spokesperson told TechCrunch that the Commission “always uses all social media platforms in good faith.”
“The Commission simply uses the tools that the platform itself makes available to our corporate accounts; this was the case with X’s ‘Post Composer’ tool,” the spokesperson said. “We expect these tools to be fully compliant with the platform’s own terms of use and legal framework.”
The spokesperson added that the commission had suspended paid advertising on X in October 2023, and that suspension remains in effect.
This post has been updated with comment from a European Commission spokesperson.
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