X is hiring 100 content moderators for its Austin, Texas Trust and Safety Center to combat the social media platform's child abuse, according to an executive.
"Trust and Safety Center of Excellence" Initiative for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) on X
X, formerly known as Twitter, revealed a new "Trust and Safety Center of Excellence," which is part of the company's commitment to combat child sexual exploitation (CSE) on the social media platform, according to a blog post by CEO Linda Yaccarino on Friday.
Per Yaccarino, while X is not the favored platform for children and minors, with users between 13 and 17 making up less than 1% of its daily U.S. users, efforts have been taken to make it harder for bad actors to share or engage with CSE material on X, while also simplifying the process for users to report CSE content by enhancing its detection mechanisms to identify more content that can be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Reported Accounts Breaking CSE Policies
The post mentioned X's suspension of 12.4 million accounts for breaking CSE policies in 2023, a significant increase from the 2.3 million suspensions in 2022, and the 850,000 reports to NCMEC, including X's first fully automated report, more than eight times the number Twitter reported before being acquired by Elon Musk's ownership group in 2022. After the acquisition,
Musk received criticism for changing the content moderation policies, leading some advertisers to reconsider spending on the platform.
READ ALSO: Meta Faces Unredacted Complaint, Denying Allegations Linked to Child Exploitation Content
Hiring of 100 Content Moderators for the Trust and Safety Center of Excellence in Austin, Texas
X is hiring content moderation staff for its new Trust and Safety Center of Excellence in Austin, Texas. According to Joe Benarroch, X's head of business operations, the Austin office's team is being assembled to assist X in combating various forms of harmful social media content to fill the positions by the end of the year, depending on finding the right talent.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino is scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday in a hearing about CSE. At the end of last week, the platform published a blog post detailing its efforts to combat such materials, saying it's "determined to make X inhospitable for actors who seek to exploit minors."
X's Investment for Offenders' Prevention in the Platform
According to Bloomberg, Benarroch stated that X does not have a specific business focus on children but emphasizes the importance of investing to prevent offenders from using the platform to distribute or engage with CSE content. The team will also address other content issues, including hate speech and "violent posts," as reported by Bloomberg. During his initial year at X, Elon Musk focused on transforming the platform into a stronghold of "free speech". It dismantled the content moderation teams established by Twitter before his takeover.
RELATED ARTICLE: X Corp Slashing 30% Trust and Safety Staff, a "Perfect Storm" on Online Safety and Moderation
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