Elon Musk’s social media platform X has been fined €120 million ($140 million) by the European Union over what regulators described as "deceptive design" related to its blue checkmark system. The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, announced the penalty on Friday, citing multiple violations of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark law aimed at holding tech platforms accountable for harmful content and misleading practices. The fine stems from an investigation launched two years ago, focusing on X’s decision to allow users to purchase verification badges. Under the previous system, Twitter — the platform’s former name — awarded blue checkmarks only to accounts verified as authentic, such as public figures, organizations, and journalists. After Musk acquired the company in 2022, he introduced a paid subscription model for the checkmark, enabling anyone to buy verification for a fee. The Commission argued this change undermined the credibility of the verification system, making it difficult for users to distinguish between genuine and fake accounts. This, the EU said, increased the risk of scams, impersonation, and misinformation. The ruling stated that X violated DSA provisions that prohibit platforms from falsely suggesting user verification, especially when the process is not based on objective criteria. In addition to the checkmark issue, the Commission found that X failed to provide adequate access to public data for independent researchers and did not make its ad repository transparent enough, both of which are required under the DSA. These shortcomings hindered efforts to study harmful content and political advertising on the platform. In response, Musk reposted a message from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who warned the EU against targeting American tech companies, calling the fine an example of "attacking American companies over garbage." Musk has long criticized EU regulations, labeling the DSA as a form of "censorship" and "misinformation" in past statements. X’s parent company, xAI, later issued a brief, automated-sounding response to a Business Insider inquiry, stating, “Legacy Media Lies,” which appeared to be a reactive message rather than a formal comment. The shift to a paid verification model caused widespread chaos in the early days, with parody accounts impersonating world leaders, celebrities, and major corporations. One such account briefly caused a sharp drop in the stock price of a major pharmaceutical company, highlighting the real-world consequences of the system’s flaws. Since then, Musk has made sweeping changes to X, including rebranding the platform and, earlier this year, announcing that X had been acquired by his AI startup, xAI. Despite these changes, the EU’s latest decision underscores the ongoing tension between Musk’s vision for the platform and the regulatory expectations of one of the world’s most stringent digital markets.