X releases first transparency report since Musk takeover

The social platform X released its first transparency report since billionaire Elon Musk acquired the company nearly two years ago. 

The Global Transparency Report, released Wednesday, provided data about user reports on content violating X’s rules and enforcement actions taken by the company, as well as government requests for information and content removals, in the first half of 2024. 

“Transparency is at the core of what we do at X,” a spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “As an entirely new company, we took time to rethink how best to transparently share data related to the enforcement of the policies that keep our community safe.”  

“Now, on the heels of the immense progress we have made, we are excited to share the work we do each and every day,” they added. 

X received more than 224 million user reports between January and June, according to the report. The largest share of user reports — nearly 82 million — were about abuse and harassment. 

Nearly 67 million user reports were in regard to hateful conduct, and another 40 million were about violent conduct. 

In response to violations, X suspended about 5.3 million accounts and removed or labeled 10.7 million posts. The report noted that the overall rate of posts that violated X’s rules was 0.01 percent. 

After Musk acquired the platform then known as Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, the billionaire rapidly made changes, rolling back content moderation rules, reinstating previously banned accounts and shifting the platform’s verification system to a paid service. 

Musk’s changes to the platform quickly faced pushback as outside groups documented an uptick in hate speech in the weeks following the billionaire’s takeover. 

X’s content moderation practices came under scrutiny again last November, when a report found that ads for mainstream brands were being placed next to pro-Nazi and white nationalist content. It prompted several major advertisers to halt their ad spending on the platform. 

Amid the changes at the company over the past two years, X has not released a transparency report. Its last such report covered the second half of 2021. 

In Wednesday’s report, X also offered data about government information and content removal requests. The social media company received 18,737 requests for information in the first six months of the year and made disclosures in about 53 percent of cases. 

The largest number of information requests came from the European Union, with 7,872 requests, and X made disclosures in 56 percent of cases. The U.S. made 3,329 requests for information from the company, which had a 76 percent disclosure rate. 

The company also received 72,703 requests from governments around the world to take down content. It took action in about 71 percent of cases, according to the report.

By far, the most removal requests came from Japan, with 46,648 requests, and X acted on 79 percent of cases. Turkey had the next most takedown requests, at 9,364, and the social media company took action 68 percent of the time. 

X’s response to removal requests from governments has recently spilled into the spotlight after the company refused to comply with demands to suspend certain accounts in Brazil. In response, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the platform be shut down in the country of 220 million people.

However, X appears to be taking steps to restore service to the country; it has reportedly complied with de Moraes’s orders to name a representative and block the accounts, according to The Washington Post.