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X\u2019s Head of Product Nikita Bier fired back at the European Commission this weekend after the EC fined the social media company \u20ac120 million<\/a> (around $140 million).<\/p>\n In its first fine under the European Union\u2019s Digital Services Act<\/a>, the commission called X\u2019s blue checkmark system \u201cdeceptive\u201d and said the paid verification system makes users vulnerable to impersonation and scams. The commission also said X\u2019s advertising repository failed to meet the DSA\u2019s requirements for transparency and accessibility.<\/p>\n The commission said that X must respond within 60 days to its concerns about blue checkmarks, and within 90 days to the ad transparency violations, or it could face additional penalties.<\/p>\n After the fine was announced, X owner Elon Musk described it<\/a> as \u201cbullshit\u201d and also posted<\/a>, \u201cHow long before the EU is gone? AbolishTheEU\u201d.<\/p>\n Now it seems X has penalized the commission\u2019s account on the platform \u2014 not, the company says, because of the fine, but rather the commission\u2019s use of X\u2019s advertising system.<\/p>\n Quoting the commission\u2019s post<\/a> announcing the fine, X\u2019s Bier accused the EC of logging into a \u201cdormant ad account to take advantage of an exploit in our Ad Composer \u2014 to post a link that deceives users into thinking it\u2019s a video and to artificially increase its reach.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs you may be aware, X believes everyone should have an equal voice on our platform,\u201d Bier wrote<\/a>. \u201cHowever, it seems you believe that the rules should not apply to your account.\u201d<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> As a result, he said the commission\u2019s ad account had been \u201cterminated.\u201d Bier subsequently said<\/a> the exploit \u201chas never been abused like this\u201d and has since been patched.<\/p>\n TechCrunch has reached out to a European Commission spokesperson for comment.<\/p>\n While the commission may have lost the ability to buy ads on X, its post announcing the fine<\/a> remains up, and its account still has a grey checkmark indicating that it belongs to a government organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n