X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is failing to remove posts containing hate against Jews, Muslims, and Palestinians, according to a report out Tuesday from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a non-profit being sued by Elon Musk.
Researchers at the CCDH used X’s internal reporting system to flag 200 posts written since Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
They identified posts containing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian hate, which were chosen as “a means of testing X’s moderation systems,” according to the report. A week later, they say, 98 percent of the posts were still up.
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The CCDH’s sample of 200 hate-filled posts included posts promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as the existence of a “Jewish mafia,” as well as other praising Adolf Hitler, and denying or diminishing the Holocaust.
Other posts glorified violence between Israel and Hamas, such as one post stating, “Why can’t white people just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show of jews and muslims killing each other?”
The researchers also found posts denying the basic humanity of Palestinians, including tweets comparing them to “animals” and denying they “exist as a people.”
Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the CCDH, told The Daily Beast that the new report was confirmation that Musk’s leadership of X had failed to address serious problems on the platform.
“Musk has allowed X to descend into precisely what he promised it wouldn’t descent into, which is a hell-scape of hate and disinformation,” Ahmed said. “What’s online leads to real-world harm.”
As of April 2023, X’s policy on hateful content states that, “You may not directly attack other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”
Meanwhile, the CCDH is being sued by Musk, who alleges they have been engaged in a “scare campaign to drive away advertisers from the X platform.”
“Despite our continued progress, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and its backers have been actively working to assert false and misleading claims about X and actively working to prevent public dialogue,” the suit claims.
Accusations of antisemitism on X are not new. In September, the CCDH released a report documenting neo-Nazi, antisemitic, and racist posts on the platform. At the time, X’s Safety Team pushed back, saying the report contained “false claims,” and that “violative posts” had been removed.
Misinformation has been rife on most social media platforms in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with X experiencing particularly severe problems, according to reporting by the Associated Press. Experts found the platform is “not only unreliable but is actively promoting falsehoods,” the outlet reported.
Musk himself has boosted accounts known to peddle misinformation and spread online hoaxes. Government actors have also used the platform to spread false information, including Israeli diplomat Ofir Gendelman, who tried to pass off behind-the-scenes footage from a Lebanese short film as evidence that Palestinians in Gaza were “fooling” the international media with fake injuries following Israel’s month-long bombardment of Gaza.
