The European Commission, also known as EC, issued a preliminary warning to X for violating the Digital Services Act (DSA) of the European Union, citing 3 main points: operational practices, transparency in advertising, and researcher access to data. EC stated that the principle of the DSA law is to manage inappropriate content and ensure transparency in the advertising system. Following an investigation and consultation with experts, it was found that X violated the DSA law as follows:
Firstly, regarding operational practices, EC focused on the blue checkmark system, which X referred to as identity verification. However, EC discovered that X used this to make users believe it was a trustworthy account with confirmed identity, which was deceiving users.
Next, in terms of advertising, EC found that X did not adhere to the transparency guidelines of the DSA law in aspects such as ad verification and designing ad displays to deter user scrutiny.
Lastly, the issue of researcher access to public data, a requirement under the DSA law, was highlighted. It was known that X currently only allows data extraction through an API at a high cost, which is a violation of the law.
EC has informed X of this preliminary warning, giving X the opportunity to provide counterarguments before further legal proceedings. If X is found to be in violation of the DSA law, fines of up to 6% of global revenue may be imposed.
TLDR: The European Commission warned X for DSA violations in operational practices, advertising transparency, and researcher data access, allowing X to defend before potential fines.
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