X publishes first transparency report since Musk takeover

X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has published its first transparency report since Elon Musk took control of the company in 2022. The 15-page document, which covers the first half of 2024, is the first of its kind in more than a year and offers a comprehensive look at the platform’s enforcement practices. The report reveals new data on content moderation and addresses concerns raised by users and advertisers about the platform’s safety.

X publishes first report in over a year

X’s first transparency report details enforcement figures between January and June 2024. X received more than 224 million user reports, resulting in the suspension of more than 5 million accounts and the removal of more than 10 million posts. The report highlights that content violating the platform’s rules accounted for less than 1 percent of all shared posts. However, it underscores that hateful, abusive, and violent content remains a major challenge for the platform.

Of the most common violations, posts under the hateful conduct policy were the most common, with X taking action on 4.9 million posts. In addition, 2.6 million posts involving abuse and harassment and 2.2 million posts containing violent content were addressed. The platform continues to face scrutiny from advertisers and civil rights groups, particularly over its handling of this type of harmful content.

The data also reflects a significant increase in enforcement numbers compared to Twitter’s last report, before Musk’s acquisition. By the end of 2021, Twitter had suspended 1.3 million accounts and dealt with about 4.3 million posts, showing a sharp increase in the volume of flagged content and enforcement efforts.

Government involvement and requests for content removal are increasing

The X Transparency Report also provides insight into government requests for information and content removal. X received over 18,000 government requests for user data, with a disclosure rate of 53%. In addition, there were 72,703 government requests for content removal, with X taking action in 70% of cases. Notably, Japan led the world in requests for content removal, with 46,648 such requests, followed by Turkey with 9,364.

X’s report underscores the platform’s efforts to combat child exploitation. It filed 370,588 reports with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the first half of 2024. The company also suspended more than 2 million accounts for involvement with child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This is a significant increase from previous years. In 2021, for example, Twitter reported just 86,000 such cases to the NCMEC, a number that has steadily grown in subsequent years.

While X’s first transparency report signals a greater commitment to public accountability, the data alone isn’t enough. Concerns persist in the tech world about the impact of Musk’s leadership on the platform’s safety and moderation efforts, especially with a growing focus on automation and machine learning in enforcing rules.