X Agrees to Stricter Moderation in the UK
Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has agreed to enhance protections against illegal hate speech and terrorist content in the United Kingdom. This decision follows sustained pressure from Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom. According to a Reuters report, X will now review suspected illegal hate speech and terrorism-related posts within an average of 24 hours and assess at least 85% of flagged content within 48 hours.
Key Commitments Made by X
Under the new commitments, X has pledged to take several concrete steps to address harmful content. These include restricting access in Britain to accounts operated by or linked to organizations banned under UK terrorism laws. Additionally, the platform will submit quarterly performance data to Ofcom over the next year and engage external experts to improve its reporting systems. This move comes after concerns were raised that reports of harmful content were not always clearly received or acted upon.
The platform has also agreed to review suspected illegal hate speech and terrorism-related posts more quickly and improve transparency around its moderation efforts. Ofcom stated that civil society groups had reported that harmful content notifications were sometimes ignored or handled inefficiently.
Rising Scrutiny of Online Platforms
This development occurs as regulators in several countries increase their oversight of social media companies regarding content moderation and the spread of illegal or extremist material. X has consistently maintained that it enforces bans on terrorist organizations and hateful content, but it did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new agreement.
Ofcom’s online safety group director, Oliver Griffiths, emphasized the importance of these measures. “We have evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech is persisting on some of the largest social media sites. This is of particular importance in the UK following a number of recent hate-motivated crimes suffered by the country's Jewish community,” he said.
Focus on Antisemitic Incidents
The deal comes amid growing concern about attacks on Jewish people and institutions in Britain. Recent incidents include a stabbing of two men in north London, which police are treating as a terrorist incident. Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, noted that the commitments followed “sustained campaigning” after last year’s attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in northern England.
Danny Stone, chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, described the commitments as “a good start” but added that X was still “failing in so many regards” to tackle racism effectively.
Global Pressure on X
Regulators in the European Union, Australia, and Singapore have also pressured X over illegal or extremist content. The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into whether the platform is failing to curb hate speech. The commitments in Britain coincide with broader scrutiny of X’s artificial intelligence tools. Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Grok, the company’s AI chatbot, generated sexualized images in some cases, even when users indicated subjects had not consented.
Ofcom confirmed that its investigation into X remains ongoing, including reviews of the platform’s systems for addressing illegal content and issues related to Grok.
