X, formerly known as Twitter, has been fined €1.35 million. This penalty is for breaching the gambling advertising ban in Italy. It is the latest social media platform to face such consequences.
Agcom, also known as Italy’s Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, has imposed a €1.35 million fine on X’s owner, Twitter International Unlimited Company. X has violated the 2019 so-called dignity decree. This decree prohibits any form of advertising, sponsorship, or communication presenting promotional content related to games or betting.
Agcom has found nine violations from verified X accounts. These accounts advertised sites that offer gaming and betting activities with cash winnings. Agcom said that the fact the accounts had a blue check made X liable for their activites.
The authority has added that it has now issued an access inhibition order for two of the active accounts on the platform. Agcom has also adopted an inhibition order for further illicit content uploaded. This came after the dispute of the nine accounts’ notification of the notice.
Just weeks after Facebook and Instagram owner Meta faced a €5.58 million penalty for gambling advertising, the decision arrives. Agcom discovered promotional content for gaming and betting on 18 social media profiles. Five were on Instagram, and thirteen were on Facebook. Additionally, the regulator found 32 sponsored video and image posts aimed at promoting or advertising online gaming and betting activities.
The authority has also issued penalties to Google, Twitch, and YouTube. The authority fined Google €700,000. Google violates the ban in August 2022. It was related to ads that appeared on Top Ads’ Spike YouTube channels. Although, Agcom did not mention which gambling operators or products were being advertised.
Italy imposed the wide-reaching ad ban in 2019. The ban has been a particular source of difficulty for football clubs.
