Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has begun prominently displaying a disclaimer for its blue checkmark, in what appears to be a move to head off potential fines from European Union antitrust regulators, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Last July, the European Commission accused X of misleading users by selling the blue checkmark without making its meaning clear. Historically, the symbol signified that an account belonged to a verified public figure. After Musk acquired the platform in 2022, the checkmark became a perk for paid subscribers instead.
X recently raised the price of its Premium subscription by nearly 40%—from $16 to $22 per month in the U.S., and from $168 to $229 annually. The company says the hike reflects the value of an ad-free experience and improved creator payouts. Similar price increases have rolled out across Europe, including in France, Germany, and Spain. Legacy subscribers will keep old pricing until January 20, when President Trump is set to return to office. The platform’s basic subscription tier remains unchanged.
Musk argues the higher subscription fee is justified, calling the new ad-free model a “significant enhancement.” X has also revamped its revenue-sharing program so that Premium subscribers directly support content creators. Premium Plus users now receive additional benefits, including priority support, trend tracking, and expanded access to X’s Grok AI tools.
The changes come as the company battles a major lawsuit filed by 17 music publishers, who accuse X of widespread copyright infringement involving roughly 1,700 songs. The plaintiffs are seeking up to $250 million in damages. David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers’ Association, noted, “Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service.”
Publishers claim that X was notified of nearly 300,000 infringing tweets since December 2021 but failed to remove most of them. The company had previously been in licensing talks with Universal, Sony, and Warner, but those discussions collapsed following Musk’s $44 billion acquisition.
Despite the new disclaimer, X has not admitted wrongdoing, and the move is not part of any formal agreement with EU regulators. The European Commission acknowledged the update but emphasized that its investigation is ongoing under the Digital Services Act—a law requiring major platforms to crack down on harmful and illegal content or face fines of up to 6% of global annual revenue.
X has not responded to requests for comment. Bloomberg first reported on the blue checkmark disclaimer.
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