Illegal content, transparency & deceptive design
Notice-and-action, systemic-risk management, the "Blue check" deceptive design, the ad repository, and researcher data access. First-ever DSA formal proceedings.
- Art. 16
- Art. 25(1)
- Art. 34
- Art. 35
- Art. 39
- Art. 40(12)
- Request for information
RFI on the spread of illegal content and disinformation around the Hamas attacks on Israel, and on the crisis-response protocol. Source ↗
- Formal proceedings opened
The first-ever DSA formal proceedings — covering notice-and-action, risk management, deceptive design, ad transparency and data access. Source ↗
- Preliminary findings
First-ever DSA preliminary findings: the Blue-checkmark design deceives users (Art. 25), the ad repository is not searchable/reliable (Art. 39) and researcher data access is obstructed (Art. 40). Source ↗
- Additional investigatory measures
RFI on X’s recommender systems plus a retention order preserving documents on algorithm changes, and a request for access to X’s commercial API. Source ↗
- €120M fine
First DSA non-compliance decision and fine, for the Art. 25(1), 39 and 40(12) breaches. X given 60/90 working days to remedy; further non-compliance can trigger periodic penalty payments. Source ↗
- X appeals to the EU General Court
X challenged the €120M decision (X v Commission) — the first court challenge to a DSA fine. The 90-working-day remedy deadline for the ad repository and data access passed without a public outcome. Source ↗
- Commission accepts X’s action plan
The Commission accepted X’s action plan to remedy the Art. 39 ad-repository and Art. 40(12) data-access breaches: X commits to add API access and more ad data to the repository and cut its response times, to give eligible researchers data free of charge with a streamlined application process, and to stop contractually barring the scraping of public data — with six months to implement and an independent audit to follow. The Board for Digital Services called the plan only “partially adequate” and the audit measures “insufficient to address the infringements.” Source ↗
First DSA non-compliance decision. Confirmed breaches of Art. 25(1) (Blue checkmark), Art. 39 (ad repository) and Art. 40(12) (researcher data access). The illegal-content and information-manipulation (Community Notes) strands remain open.