The EU just slapped X with a €120 million fine for its 'deceptive' blue checks

X logo on a phone screen.

What you need to know

• The European Commission has hit Elon Musk’s X with a €120 million penalty for misleading users with its blue checkmarks.
• Regulators ruled that selling verification badges without ID checks tricks users and fuels scams.
• The fine also targets X’s opaque advertising database and its refusal to let researchers access public data.