Commission fines X €120 million under DSA (5 December 2025) — first non-compliance decision

On 5 December 2025, the European Commission fined X €120 million for breaching transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act. The press page states this is the first non-compliance decision under the DSA. The VLOP supervision list (updated 31 August 2026) records the same fine date under X Internet Unlimited Company’s enforcement timeline.

Breaches named by the Commission

1. Deceptive design of the blue checkmark — paid “verified” status without meaningful identity verification, contrary to DSA rules against deceptive design.
2. Advertising repository — fails transparency and accessibility requirements; design barriers and missing critical fields (including ad content/topic and paying legal entity) hinder scrutiny of scams and influence operations.
3. Researcher access to public data — terms and processes impose unnecessary barriers, including scraping prohibitions for eligible researchers.

The fine reflects nature, gravity for EU users, and duration of the infringements.

UA reading

This is a precedent on VLOP ad-library quality and researcher access. It does not itself change TikTok or Meta repository rules (those are separate decisions). Game advertisers using X should expect continued pressure on ad-transparency tooling quality across VLOPs.

Download the fine card.

Research checked 20 September 2026. Local draft; human editorial review pending.