Arts & Entertainment

Hate speech skyrocketed on X after Musk’s ‘deep cuts’

Sydney, Australia, Jan 11 (EFE).- Hate speech skyrocketed on X (formerly Twitter) due to staff cuts since the arrival in October 2022 of South African tycoon Elon Musk, the Australian Internet Safety Agency said Thursday in a report.

The Australian eSafety Commission said these “deep cuts” and the reinstatement of thousands of accounts blocked for spreading hate content created a “perfect storm” for the publication of harmful content.

The regulator had access to the detailed breakdown of software engineers, content moderators and other security personnel working at X through a law passed in the country.

According to this data, more than 1,200 “security personnel” workers globally had left X since Musk’s arrival, while some 6,100 previously blocked accounts were restored.

“A number of these reinstated users were previously banned for online hate. If you let the worst offenders back on while at the same time significantly reducing trust and safety personnel whose job it is to protect users from harm, there are clear concerns about the implications for the safety of users,” agency Director Julie Inman Grant said.

The Australian representative said this reduction in staff also had a direct impact on the social network’s response times to complaints about hate messages.

Australia is leading the global push to regulate social media, forcing technology companies to describe how they are tackling issues such as hate speech and child sexual abuse.

But attempts to exercise these powers have sometimes been met with indifference by companies.

In October 2023, the Australian commission fined X AUD610,500 (about $410,170) for ruling that it had not demonstrated how it was taking action against child pornography, but X ignored the deadline to pay the fine, before launching ongoing legal action to have it overturned. EFE

aus-nc/lds

Related Articles

Back to top button