Britain’s media regulator said X has pledged a series of steps aimed at tackling hate and terrorist content on the platform, including faster reviews of content reported by users and restrictions on access to accounts linked to banned terrorist groups. The commitments were described by Ofcom as part of efforts to strengthen enforcement after concerns from civil society groups about how quickly and effectively X follows up on reports of illegal content.
Ofcom said X’s public promises include restricting access in the U.K. to accounts operated by or on behalf of terrorist groups that the country has banned. The regulator said X also promised to review suspected illegal terrorist and hate content within 24 hours on average, and to assess 85% of the material no more than 48 hours after users have flagged it.
Ofcom’s online safety group director, Oliver Griffiths, said the regulator faces “particular importance” in the U.K. following recent hate-motivated crimes suffered by the country’s Jewish community, which Ofcom said numbers about 300,000 people. Ofcom said Britain’s Jewish community has faced growing attacks online and in the streets, including arson attacks and a double stabbing that have sparked fear and anger among Jews.
Ofcom said the regulator has been pressing X after it found evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech is “persisting” on social media sites, and it said it expects tech companies to take “firm action.” The regulator said X has also agreed to engage with experts on how to improve its reporting systems after concerns from civil society groups that X failed to follow up after illegal content was flagged by users.
As part of oversight, Ofcom said X will submit quarterly performance data over a 12-month period so the regular can compare X’s performance against the targets set out in the commitments. A spokesperson for X in the U.K. did not respond to a request for comment.
The regulator’s statement also came amid broader scrutiny of X and its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. Earlier this year, Ofcom said, Grok faced intensified global scrutiny after it generated nonconsensual deepfake images, an incident that led Ofcom to launch an investigation into whether Grok failed to protect users from illegal content—an investigation Griffiths said was ongoing.
The cluster reporting also noted that the Grok controversy prompted action by European Union regulators targeting X over what they said was insufficient containment of illegal content, and that French prosecutors sought charges last week against Musk and X, according to the AP report, including denial of crimes against humanity.