Key Takeaway
X, formerly Twitter, is making efforts to address concerns about child safety by hiring 100 moderators for its new "Trust and Safety" center in Austin, Texas. The company's response to child sexual exploitation (CSE) on its platform has been a subject of scrutiny, and it aims to demonstrate increased efforts in combating the issue.
X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced plans to hire 100 full-time content moderators for its new "Trust and Safety" center in Austin, Texas. The move comes ahead of a congressional hearing focusing on child safety measures of Big Tech companies, including X, Meta, and TikTok. The company aims to address concerns about child sexual exploitation (CSE) on its platform, which has been a subject of scrutiny and legal action in the past.
X’s Efforts to Address Child Safety
X CEO Linda Yaccarino has been meeting with bipartisan members of the Senate to discuss the company's efforts in battling CSE on its platform. The company has faced challenges in properly moderating CSE content, leading to a lawsuit in 2021. Despite efforts to address the issue, concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of X's enforcement of its policies.
Challenges Under New Leadership
Since Elon Musk acquired the company, there have been concerns about the impact of layoffs on trust and safety teams, moderators, and engineers. Musk has promised to prioritize addressing the issue of CSE content, but reports indicate that the problem persists. X's decision to rehire an account previously banned for posting CSE images has raised questions about its enforcement of policies.
Increasing Response to the Problem
X has reported an increase in its efforts to combat CSE, including the suspension of 12.4 million accounts in 2023, up from 2.3 million in 2022. The company also sent 850,000 reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2023, indicating an increased response to the issue. However, these metrics also raise concerns that individuals seeking to share CSE content are turning to X as a platform for such activities.
