X owner Elon Musk’s social media outfit has agreed to stronger guardrails against terrorist and hate speech content, including antisemitic and anti-Muslim material, after a probe into illegal posts on social media platforms.
British media regulator Ofcom said hate and terror content was still accessible on parts of the largest social media sites in the UK. It flagged this as a particular worry after hate crime incidents and hate-motivated crimes suffered by Britain’s Jewish community.
According to the Financial Times, X announced a set of commitments to better protect UK users. The move followed an Ofcom compliance programme checking whether the biggest social media companies are dealing properly with illegal hate and terror material.
Ofcom online safety group director Oliver Griffiths said: “Following intensive engagement carried out by Ofcom’s online safety team, X have committed to implementing stronger protections for UK users, which we will now monitor closely.”
The new promises include faster reviews of illegal hate and terror content reported in the UK, on average within 24 hours. As a backstop, X will review and assess at least 85 per cent of suspected UK illegal terrorist and hate content within 48 hours.
X said it will withhold access to accounts in the UK that are reported for posting illegal terrorist content. That applies when it decides that the accounts are run by or on behalf of a terrorist organisation proscribed in the UK.
Ofcom said the targets would give UK users some of the strongest protections on X anywhere. That is quite the climbdown, given Musk has spent plenty of time grumbling about the UK government’s online safety rules and free speech.
The move is the most significant action of its kind since the Online Safety Act became law in 2023. The law pushes platforms to prevent access to harmful content, enforce age restrictions and risk-assess their services.
Antisemitism Policy Trust chief executive Danny Stone said: “X is failing in so many regards to tackle open racism on its platform. We know where this online harm leads, and so for the sake and safety of all of us in Britain, I hope Ofcom will hold X to account for what it has promised the regulator it will do.”
X will now talk to experts about its reporting systems. Some organisations had raised concerns that it was unclear whether reports were being received or actioned.
The outfit will submit performance data to Ofcom during the next year so the regulator can keep an eye on it. Ofcom is still investigating X’s AI chatbot Grok over concerns it is being used to create sexualised images.
Musk previously claimed the UK government wanted “any excuse for censorship” after the Grok investigation was launched. X was flagged as a concern after violent unrest across the country in 2024, when false information spread online.
