EU fines Musk’s X €120 million for violations of the Digital Services Act

The European Commission imposes a record fine on Musk’s X for lack of transparency on advertisements and blue ticks, while approving TikTok’s binding commitments to ensure transparency of its services

The European Commission has fined Musk’s X, the Tesla boss’s social network, €120 million for violations of the transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The non-compliance decision comes after nearly two years of investigation, which began on 18 December 2023, and concerns several issues, including the “misleading” design of the blue tick, the lack of transparency in the advertising archive and the refusal to provide public data to researchers.

The investigation, which continues on other issues related to the dissemination of illegal content and the manipulation of information, aims to verify whether X has complied with European rules on online safety and transparency. The sanction represents one of the first concrete applications of the Digital Services Act, a key EU tool for regulating large digital operators.

At the same time, the Commission has approved binding commitments by TikTok, controlled by China’s ByteDance, to ensure greater transparency in advertising on its services. Following discussions with the EU executive, TikTok has presented measures that address all the concerns raised in the preliminary findings of May 2025, thus ensuring full transparency of advertisements and compliance with the DSA.

With these decisions, the European Union is demonstrating the concrete application of the new digital rules, sanctioning violations while approving corrective measures for platforms that demonstrate a commitment to complying with the rules.

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(Photo: © AndKronos) Musk’s X