According to Gizmodo, the European Commission has fined Elon Musk’s X 120 million euros, or roughly $140 million, for violating the EU’s Digital Services Act. The penalty, announced in June 2025, targets the platform’s “deceptive design” of its blue checkmark verification system, which the Commission says fails to meaningfully verify user identities and could expose people to fraud. The Commission also cited X for a lack of transparency in its advertising repository and for blocking researcher access to public data. X now has 60 days to address the blue check issue and 90 days to fix the other problems or face additional fines. This comes as analysts estimate X’s revenue was just $2.5 billion in 2024, a sharp drop from the over $5 billion Twitter reported in 2021 before Musk’s $44 billion acquisition.
Why this fine matters
Look, on the surface, $140 million is basically pocket change for Elon Musk. But here’s the thing: this isn’t really about the money. It’s the first major financial penalty under the EU’s new Digital Services Act, and it’s a very public, very official declaration that Musk’s core monetization play for X is, in the eyes of regulators, fundamentally broken and harmful. The old blue check meant “This person is who they say they are.” The new one just means “This person paid $8.” The EU is saying that distinction isn’t just a bad product decision—it’s an illegal one that misleads users and undermines platform safety. That’s a huge deal.
The stakeholder fallout
For users, especially in Europe, this is a win for clarity. The ruling forces X to either scrap paid verification or, more likely, make it painfully obvious that a checkmark is a paid status symbol, not an authenticity badge. That could finally kill the residual prestige of the blue check. For advertisers, the fine over the ad repository is arguably bigger. The DSA requires platforms to maintain a searchable, public database of who is paying for political and issue-based ads. This is meant to let watchdogs and researchers spot manipulation and scams. X’s failure here makes it a less trustworthy, and therefore less attractive, place for major brands to spend money. And for researchers? This is a validation of their fight for data access. The Commission is siding with them, saying that without independent scrutiny, platforms can’t be held accountable.
The bigger picture for X
So where does this leave the platform? In a tough spot. Musk bet heavily that a subscription model could reduce reliance on advertisers. But according to reporting from The New York Times, ad revenue has already plummeted since his takeover. Now, his main subscription feature is being ruled deceptive. The irony is thick: Appfigures estimates X’s net revenue from app-based subscriptions from 2021 to 2024 was about $140 million—almost exactly the amount of this fine. Basically, several years of pushing this strategy might be wiped out by one regulatory action. It forces a painful pivot. Does X double down on subscriptions with a new, compliant system? Or does it have to go crawling back to the advertisers it has repeatedly alienated?
A warning for other platforms
This isn’t just an X problem. The European Commission’s press release on the fine is a shot across the bow for every major platform. The DSA is now fully armed and operational. The EU is signaling it will aggressively enforce rules on transparency, deceptive design, and researcher access. For Meta, Google, TikTok, and others, the message is clear: your algorithmic feeds, your ad systems, and your verification processes are now under a microscope. If a feature can be seen as manipulating users or obscuring information, it’s at risk. The wild west era of social media design is over in Europe. And given that Europe often sets the global regulatory tone, this fine might just be the opening act.
