X (nee Twitter) has become the first company to be fined under the European Union’s Digital Service Act (DSA). The European Commission announced that X will be fined €120 million (about $140 million) and could face “periodic penalty payments” if the Elon Musk-owned platform fails to comply with the DSA.

The fine stems from what the EU considers three violations: deceptive design around the ‘blue checkmark', failure to provide public data to researchers, and a lack of transparency and accessibility of its ad repository.

When Musk bought Twitter in 2022, one of the first alterations he made was to change how the platform issued blue checkmarks to verify notable users. Instead, the social media site began charging $8 a month for blue checks. This prompted a wave of imposter accounts, and al

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