X stopped calling EU users 'verified,' now labels them 'premium users'

May change surfaces in DOJ-backed appeal of EU’s $137 million X fine

Elon Musk’s X platform stopped calling account holders “verified” for users in the European Union in May, referring instead to those with the blue tick as “premium users,” according to UPI reporting on the U.S. Justice Department’s filing supporting X’s appeal of a $137 million EU Digital Services Act fine.

The terminology change followed the European Commission’s December decision, which the commission said was based on findings that the platform’s blue check scheme deceived paying subscribers because it was not “meaningfully verifying” who account holders were. The commission’s December ruling also cited a lack of transparency in advertising and the platform’s not allowing researchers access to data as additional violations of the DSA.

On Thursday, the Justice Department filed an application at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg supporting X Corp’s bid to overturn the commission’s December ruling. In a news release, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate described the matter as “a clear case of Brussels overreach,” saying the European Commission had “inappropriately attempted” to extend its authority to American firms.

“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction,” Shumate said. “We will not tolerate the European Commission engaging in regulatory overreach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth.”

The commission said Friday it would fight the challenge in court, calling its case against X’s alleged breach of the EU’s Digital Services Act “solid.”

The Justice Department argued that a clause in the statute of the Court of Justice of the EU permits a state to join disputes being heard by the court provided it “can establish an interest in the result of the case to the court.” The department said making sure the impacts of legal rulings on commission decisions were in line with the way territorial jurisdiction was “generally understood in international law” and did not otherwise hurt American digital services companies was clearly in the United States’ interest.

The filing warned that “very large online platforms” operating in the EU — many of which were U.S.-headquartered — could face significant impacts if the commission’s decision were upheld, and said the United States looked forward to presenting its arguments in court.

The department also criticized the extension of what it characterized as the commission’s “wide-reaching legal scrutiny” to include Musk as a private citizen and his other companies, despite their having no connection to the case.

At the time the fine was announced, Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said in a statement: “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU. … With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”

The Digital Services Act, EU-wide legislation passed in 2022, was aimed at extending consumer rights protections to the online sphere. The X fine was the commission’s first non-compliance decision under the law.