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Social media platform X has blocked the European Commission from running advertisements on its site, a move that follows the Commission's recent decision to fine Elon Musk's company €120m (£105m) over its blue tick badges. Nikita Bier, a senior figure at X, accused the EU regulator of attempting to "take advantage" of "an exploit" in X's advertising system to promote its post about the fine on Friday.
"It seems you believe that the rules should not apply to your account," he said. "Your ad account has been terminated."
A European Commission spokesperson told reporters the Commission "always uses all social media platforms in good faith".
X's fine, issued on Friday, was the first under the EU's Digital Services Act. The EU regulator said the platform's blue tick system was "deceptive" because the firm was not "meaningfully verifying users".
"This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors," it said.
It claimed X was also failing to provide transparency around its adverts, and was not giving researchers access to public data.
The social media platform has been given 60 days to respond to the Commission about concerns surrounding its blue checkmarks, or face extra penalties.
Following the fine, Elon Musk posted on his platform to say the EU "should be abolished", and retweeted a response from another X user comparing it to fascism.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) accused the EU regulator of attacking and censoring US firms, adding, "the days of censoring Americans online are over".
The dispute originated with Mr Bier, who accused the Commission of activating a rarely-used account "to take advantage of an exploit". He claimed it had posted a link which itself deceived users - tricking them into thinking it was a video "to artificially increase its reach".
He said the "exploit", which had "never been abused like this", had now been removed.
Ad accounts on X are used by businesses to create and analyse paid advertising campaigns and run "promoted" posts on the site, separate from the users' X profile.
In response, a European Commission spokesperson said that it was "simply using the tools that platforms themselves are making available to our corporate accounts."
