X has agreed to enhance protections for UK users against illegal hate speech and terrorist content, after months of regulatory pressure.
According to the agreement, the social media platform will evaluate at least 85% of suspected illegal hate and terrorism-related content within 48 hours, with an average review time of 24 hours.
The UK regulator, Ofcom, said X has committed to limiting access in Britain to accounts run by or on behalf of organisations prohibited by UK terrorism laws. Over the course of the uxpcoming year, it will provide Ofcom with quarterly performance data.
To Ofcom, X would also hire outside specialists to enhance its reporting processes in response to complaints from civil society organisations that content that was identified was not always appropriately acknowledged or addressed.
Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom’s online safety branch, stated, “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.”
Numerous attacks on Jewish individuals and targets have occurred in Britain, including the stabbing of two men in north London last month, which authorities are considering to be a terrorist act.
The agreements came after “sustained campaigning” following the attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue in northern England last year, according to Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.
The Antisemitism Policy Trust’s chief executive, Danny Stone, stated that while the pledges were “a good start,” X was still “failing in so many regards” to address racism.
The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into whether X is failing to ban hate speech, while regulators in Singapore, Australia and the European Union have also put pressure on the platform for content that is unlawful or violent.
Following heightened examination of X’s platform and artificial intelligence techniques, Britain has made further pledges.
According to reports from February, Musk’s Grok chatbot frequently produced sexualised photographs despite users’ warnings that the subjects had not given their consent.
Ofcom stated that it is still looking into X, including its methods for dealing with illicit content and Grok-related problems.
