Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, released its first transparency report since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company in late 2022.
The report, covering the first half of 2024, provides insight into the platform’s content moderation efforts and enforcement of community guidelines.
According to the report, X suspended approximately 5.3 million accounts during this period, a significant increase compared to the 1.6 million accounts suspended in the first half of 2022. The platform also took action on over 10.6 million posts, either removing or labeling them for policy violations. Of these, around 5 million posts were flagged for “hateful conduct,” while others contained violent content (2.2 million posts) or involved abuse and harassment (2.6 million posts). However, X did not clarify how many of these posts were removed entirely and how many were simply labeled.
In comparison, X’s previous report from early 2022 (before Musk’s ownership) stated that 6.5 million posts were required to be removed for rule violations. This latest report shows an overall increase in enforcement actions under Musk’s leadership, though the platform noted that posts violating its policies still account for less than 1% of all content on the site.
X attributes these content moderation efforts to a combination of machine learning and human review, with automated systems playing a key role in detecting and flagging problematic content.
Musk’s acquisition of the platform came with promises of making X a bastion for free speech, but this report suggests a more complex reality. The report highlights a sharp rise in government requests for content removal, with X acting on 71% of legal requests in the first half of 2024, up from 51% in 2021. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and Turkey were among the most frequent requesters. Despite Musk’s vocal opposition to censorship, X’s compliance with government takedown demands has increased under his leadership.
While some have welcomed the return of transparency reports, others have raised concerns about the platform’s growing compliance with government requests and the lack of detailed context around these actions.
The Associated Press, AV Club, and the Washington Post contributed to this report.
