X Pledges Faster Action on UK Hate Content

X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has pledged to review reports of suspected illegal hate and terrorist content within an average of 24 hours in the UK. These commitments were accepted by Ofcom following a series of religiously-motivated crimes targeting Jewish communities.

The company said this would apply to content flagged through its illegal content reporting tool, as reported by BBC. X will submit performance data to Ofcom every three months for a year. While it has set a target to average less than 24 hours for its reviews, it has also promised to assess at least 85% of reports within 48 hours.

Ofcom's online safety director Oliver Griffiths called the commitments a 'step forward', according to The Guardian. He said the regulator had evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech was persisting on some of the largest social media sites. The announcement follows the launch of an Ofcom compliance programme in December, assessing whether major social media companies have adequate systems for dealing with reports of illegal hate and terror material.

X's commitments include engaging with experts about reporting systems for such content and withholding UK access to accounts reported for posting illegal terrorist content if they are operated by or on behalf of a proscribed terrorist organisation. Danny Stone, chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, said the action was a 'good start' but that there was still more to do.