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‘Linda Yaccarino announces X’s successful removal of thousands of posts and hundreds of Hamas-related accounts.’
X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, has announced that the company is taking action to combat fake news and hateful content related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Yaccarino explained in her response to EU officials that X has reallocated resources and refocused internal teams to address these issues. She emphasized the measures that the platform has already implemented to contain misinformation, including the removal or labeling of “tens of thousands of pieces of content.” Additionally, X has deleted hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts and is collaborating with counter-terrorism organizations to prevent the spread of terrorist content.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton recently sent an urgent letter to Elon Musk, raising concerns about X’s content moderation obligations under the region’s Digital Services Act. Breton highlighted reports suggesting that the platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation. Wired reported that Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) researchers have been overwhelmed with false information on X, making it challenging to rely on the platform for accurate information. The website’s algorithm has been boosting posts by users who pay $8 a month for their blue checkmarks, even if the content is misleading or false. Furthermore, Musk endorsed two accounts that had previously shared false information and posted antisemitic comments.
In response to these concerns, Yaccarino assured that X is actively working to address the situation. She acknowledged the need for improvement and mentioned that the platform is continuously refining its crowd-sourced fact-checking tool, Community Notes. Currently, over 700 Community Notes are related to the attack, and around 5,000 posts containing images and videos have been marked with these messages. Yaccarino highlighted that the notes appear quickly for media and image posts and are working to make them show up on text posts more promptly.
Yaccarino also addressed Breton’s claims that the EU had received reports of potentially illegal content on X. She stated that the website has not received any notice from Europol and urged the European Commission to provide more details to facilitate further investigation.
Overall, X is striving to fulfill its global responsibility of protecting the public conversation and ensuring access to real-time information while safeguarding the platform for all users.