Overview
- X said it disabled the Commission’s advertising account after alleging the institution used an inactive ad account and a deceptive link formatted to look like a video to boost reach.
- X’s product lead Nikita Bier said the ad‑editor vulnerability cited in the allegations has been fixed and that the specific exploit had not been used in this way before.
- The European Commission defended its conduct, saying it uses platform tools in good faith and expects them to comply with platform terms and EU law.
- The EU fine cites misleading blue verification marks, shortcomings in ad transparency, and limits on researcher data access following a two‑year investigation.
- Brussels set response deadlines of 60 days to address verification issues and three months for ad transparency, while Elon Musk escalated criticism of the EU in posts and U.S. officials voiced support for X.