More bad news for Elon Musk after X user’s legal challenge to shadowban prevails
Elon Musk's X faces EU fines for shadowbanning and breaching transparency laws and data rights.
Elon Musk’s X has been hit with initial grievances from the European Union for suspected violations of the Digital Services Act and the General Data Protection Regulation. The company could face penalties up to 6% of its global annual turnover for confirmed DSA violations and up to 4% for GDPR breaches following individual legal challenges by PhD student Danny Mekić.
Mekić took legal action after discovering his account was shadowbanned without notification, which violated his data rights and transparency laws. The court rulings on July 4 and July 5 found X in breach of various provisions, ordering the company to compensate Mekić, provide him with a point of contact, and disclose meaningful information about the automated decision-making affecting his account.
The legal victories not only upheld Mekić's rights but also spotlight the broader issues of regulatory enforcement and transparency in online content moderation. While Mekić doubts his case alone will end arbitrary shadowbanning, he hopes it will push for better compliance and transparency from platforms like X. Regulatory bodies like Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán and Data Protection Commission are key to ensuring these standards are met at a larger scale.