X has shared its second Transparency Report, displaying all the enforcement actions that it took within the second half of final yr, primarily based on rule violations, authorities requests, and extra.
And whereas X has claimed vital progress in combating spam (X says that there was a 19% decline in spam experiences versus H1), there are another fascinating factors of be aware inside the particulars.
First off, X has offered an summary of the whole enforcement actions that it took primarily based on detected rule violations between July to December 2024.
There are some fascinating anomalies right here, when put next towards X’s final transparency replace, which coated the primary half of 2024.
For instance, X eliminated 1.16m fewer posts on account of “Abuse and Harassment” within the second half of the yr (-43% versus final report), but there have been solely 164k fewer account suspensions in the identical time-frame (-15%).
That looks like a shift in method, with X probably giving extra leeway to such experiences, whereas there’s additionally been an enormous drop off in posts eliminated on account of “Baby Sexual Exploitation” (a decline of 80%) versus a a lot smaller decline in accounts suspended for a similar (-35%).
Baby security has been a main focus for Musk and Co., and was one of many large factors of be aware that Elon made when he took over on the app. Such an enormous decline in removals both means that accounts are posting such a content material much less continuously, or that X’s earlier efforts to fight such have had an impact. Or X isn’t doing as a lot to take away it because it had been.
Both method, it is usually value noting that X is suspending way more accounts on this entrance than Twitter had been.
Again in 2022, in Twitter’s last transparency replace earlier than Elon bought the app, it reported that it had suspended 696k profiles in H1 for “Baby Sexual Exploitation”. Regardless of the decline in suspensions this era, X continues to be working at properly over double that charge.
Additionally value noting given the broader narrative across the app: X suspended 2.3k profiles for “Hateful conduct” in H2 2024. In 2022, it reported that it had suspended 111k profiles for a similar.
So on this entrance, X is suspending far fewer accounts than Twitter had been, although X had famous this could be a spotlight beneath its “freedom of speech, not attain” method.
When it comes to authorized requests, X acquired 97,000 authorized motion requests within the first half of the yr, and complied with 82% of them.
Which is a better charge of compliance that the X’s final report (70%), and rather a lot larger than Twitter had been actioning (54% as of its H1 2021 report).
So whereas X has taken a stand on some authorized requests, most notably in response to Brazilian court docket orders (which finally noticed the platform briefly suspended within the nation), and a elimination order from Australian authorities, it’s actioning much more of those general.
And the highest nations requesting such aren’t any shock: Turkey, Japan, South Korea, EU.
Turkey, South Korea and India have lengthy been among the many most energetic requestors of such removals, whereas these identical 4 nations had been the main submitters in X’s final report.
There are some questions right here round Elon Musk’s personal enterprise dealings, and his private relationships with every nation, and the way that seemingly pertains to X’s willingness to motion such. However the numbers additionally present that, regardless of Musk’s public claims of broader freedom of speech, X is definitely eradicating much more content material primarily based on authorities requests than Twitter was, whereas general, it’s additionally suspending much more customers.
The reasoning could also be completely different, with fewer customers being booted for, say, hate speech. However general, X has really been way more restrictive in its method, primarily based by itself reported figures.
As you possibly can see on this comparability, X is definitely suspending extra accounts in each class besides hate speech, regardless of having primarily the identical quantity of energetic customers. So even with its attain penalties versus account restrictions method in place, it’s nonetheless punishing much more profiles with suspension.
Is that on account of higher enforcement general, or extra selective punishments in sure areas? If these figures are appropriate, it does present that X is probably going taking extra motion than many would understand, which does present that it’s severe about model and person security. It’s simply not seemingly as energetic in sure areas.
Nicely, one.
Although, actually, X can’t win both method. If it’s suspending extra customers, then its a lot lauded “free speech” method comes into query, whereas if it doesn’t droop sufficient, then it’s seen as letting an excessive amount of via beneath its revised content material technique.
General, I might say that this information displays precisely what you’d anticipate, that X is taking extra motion the place it chooses, and regardless of its claims of respecting freedom of speech, it’s nonetheless dealing with challenges find the appropriate stability.
Similar to each different app.
You possibly can try X’s newest Transparency Report right here.
