X agrees to faster removal of hate content, Ofcom says
Elon Musk’s X has agreed to Britain’s crackdown on hate speech and militant content, aiming to protect UK users from online abuse and illegal content after months of regulatory pressure.
According to Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, under the agreement it will be mandatory for X to review suspected extremist or terrorism-related posts within 24 hours on average. The social media platform must assess 85 percent of content at least within 48 hours.
The regulator also added that X promised to restrict accounts that are primarily operated by banned organizations under UK laws. After assessing the accounts, X would submit quarterly performance data to Ofcom over the next year.
Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s online safety group director, said, “We have evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech is persisting on some of the largest social media sites.”
The social media platform will also take significant steps to improve its reporting systems by engaging with external experts. This step would address the complaints of civil society groups who reported that flagged content was not clearly acted upon.
In Britain, X’s compliance with these rules holds significant importance as attacks on Jewish communities have seen an uptick in recent weeks.
Moreover, earlier this year, another platform also faced backlash for posting sexualized and obscene images.
Besides the UK, regulators in the EU, Singapore, and Australia have also raised concerns over growing hateful content on X. Even the EU Commission launched an investigation into X over its failure to curb hate speech