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The European Commission has fined Elon Musk's X €120 million (around $140 million) for breaching its transparency rules under the Digital Services Act. The European Union's executive arm announced that it was investigating the social media company's blue checkmarking verification system — first introduced when it was still known as Twitter — last year, along with other alleged DSA violations. Today's verdict concerns the "deceptive design" of the checkmark, as well as "the lack of transparency of [X's] advertising repository, and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers."
The Commission's issue with X's verification system is that where blue checkmarks were once something that Twitter that Twitter vetted, they can now be bough by anyone. According to the EU, this puts users at risk of scams and impersonation fraud, as they can't tell if the accounts they're engaging with are authentic. "While the DSA does not mandate user verification, it clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place," it wrote in a statement.
The EU has also ruled that X's advertisement repository employs "design features and access barriers" that make it difficult for good faith actors and the general public to determine the source of online ads and spot scams or threat campaigns. It says that X fails to provide information pertaining to both the content of an ad and the entity paying for its placement.
The third alleged infringement concerns the public d
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 Dozens of Apple engineers and designers with expertise in audio, watch design, robotics, and other core product areas have left the company for OpenAI in recent months, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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 Apple today unveiled the winners of its 2025 App Store Awards, including task planning app Tiimo, which was named iPhone App of the Year.
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 Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced plans to launch a creative studio that will be led by former Apple UI designer Alan Dye. As we learned earlier today, Dye is leaving his position as Vice President of Human Interface Design at Apple to become Meta's new chief design officer.
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These are full-blown 5th-gen Echo Dot smart speakers with limited-edition themed covers, meaning you can take them off once the holiday season is over and use these Echo Dots like normal. This isn't the first time we're seeing the Jack Skellington cover, but it is the first time we're seeing Sally! And she's looking just gorgeous.
Echo Dots have improved a lot over the years, and these are the latest model so you're getting crisp vocals, impressive bass, and overall great audio performance. Alexa integration makes it easy to play music, search the web, control other smart home devices, and more. (Learn more about why we recommend smart speakers as a first step for beginners!)
If you don't have a smart speaker yet, this is a great opportunity. Don't miss your chance to order the Jack Skellington Echo Dot or Sally Echo Dot bundles for just $64.98 each—or both for $129.96.
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