The European Union has forced Elon Musk to back down. On the old continent, his social network X will have to rethink how blue badge certification works.
It is European Union 1, Elon Musk 0. Facing a potential 120 million euros fine, the billionaire has reportedly relented under pressure from the European Commission. According to Bloomberg, X (formerly Twitter) agreed last March to adjust its verification system in Europe to avoid paying. As a result, users should soon see a new approach to blue badges.
How X’s blue badge verification changed
Verification has existed since Twitter’s early days. Originally, the small blue tick was used to identify high-profile public figures: politicians, celebrities, journalists, media personalities, influencers and more. You did not necessarily have to be famous to get one; the tick’s purpose was simply to confirm identity, nothing more.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he radically reshaped the scheme. The blue tick is now tied to a subscription costing 11 euros per month. In practice, that means anyone can obtain it - and that is exactly where the issue lies.
X in the European Union’s sights
It is this subscription-based model that has drawn the European Union’s attention. Putting the blue tick behind a paywall can lend credibility to anonymous accounts that can say anything - and therefore mislead users. Worse still, some people can impersonate others.
X does offer fallback options, such as grey and gold badges (for politicians and companies), but regulators consider that insufficient - particularly because blue badges are more prominent than the others on the platform.
The European Commission concluded this amounts to a breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA), a regulation designed to protect EU citizens against various forms of manipulation. It also criticises X for failing to keep its advertiser database up to date, meaning adverts can be lost among ordinary posts - a particular concern during election periods.
As a result, the EU imposed a 120 million euros fine on the platform. The amount is more symbolic than anything else, but it fuelled sharp tensions between Brussels and Washington, and even contributed to Thierry Breton being barred from entering US territory. In the end, X chose to give ground to ease the situation. For European users, that could mean a clearer experience when it comes to verified accounts.
What X might propose for the new blue badge system
The remaining question is what, exactly, X will put forward as its replacement system. Will it return to the previous form of certification? How will it handle the labelling of users outside Europe? And could two parallel versions of X emerge - one with a paid blue badge and the other without?
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