EU accuses Elon Musk's X car of misleading users

London
CNN
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European regulators have charged Elon Musk's X company with violating the sweeping Digital Services Act, accusing the platform of misleading its users among other violations.

“Today we are publishing for the first time preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act,” Margrethe Vestager, a senior European Commission official, said in a statement. statement Friday. “In our view, Company X does not comply with the Digital Advertising Standards Act in key areas of transparency, by using dark patterns and thereby misleading users, by failing to provide adequate ad inventory, and by blocking access to data for researchers.”

The EU executive added in its statement that the company’s approach to so-called verified accounts “is not in line with industry practice and deceives users.” It noted that anyone can sign up for “verified account” status, and pointed to evidence of “malicious actors exploiting verified accounts to deceive users.”

If the Commission's initial findings are confirmed, it could fine Company X, formerly known as Twitter, up to 6% of its annual turnover.

CNN has reached out to X for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated.