X Blocks European Commission Ads Following €120m Fine
Social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, has blocked the European Commission from running adverts on the site, just days after the EU regulator imposed a €120 million (£105 million) fine over the platform’s blue tick verification system.
Nikita Bier, a senior executive at X, accused the European Commission of attempting to exploit a flaw in the platform’s advertising system to promote its post about the fine. “It seems you believe that the rules should not apply to your account,” Bier said. “Your ad account has been terminated.”
A spokesperson for the European Commission told BBC News that the body “always uses all social media platforms in good faith.”
The fine, issued on Friday, is the first under the EU’s Digital Services Act. The Commission argued that X’s blue tick verification was “deceptive” because the platform did not meaningfully verify users. “This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation fraud, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors,” the regulator said. It also cited a lack of transparency around advertising and insufficient access for researchers to public data.
X has been given 60 days to respond to the Commission’s concerns regarding its verification system, or face additional penalties.
Following the fine, Elon Musk posted on X that the EU “should be abolished” and retweeted a comment comparing the regulator to fascism. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Federal Communications Commission also criticised the EU, claiming it was censoring American companies and asserting that “the days of censoring Americans online are over.”
The dispute traces back to Bier’s allegation that the Commission had activated a rarely-used account to exploit a flaw in the platform, posting a link that allegedly misled users into thinking it was a video, thereby artificially boosting its reach. Bier said the exploit “had never been abused like this” and has now been removed.
X ad accounts allow organisations to create, analyse, and run paid campaigns or promoted posts independently from personal profiles.
A European Commission spokesperson told BBC News that it had been “simply using the tools that platforms themselves are making available to our corporate accounts,” and expected these tools to comply with the platform’s terms of service and EU legislation.
This is not the first time X has clashed with global regulators. In 2024, Brazil’s Supreme Court lifted a ban on X after the company paid 28 million reais ($5.1 million; £3.8 million) and blocked accounts accused of spreading misinformation. In 2023, Australia’s internet safety watchdog fined the platform A$610,000 ($386,000; £317,360) for failing to cooperate with a probe into anti-child abuse practices.
