Elon Musk leaves ‘viciously anti-Semitic’ and Islamophobic posts on X as 98% of hate speech flagged to the site remains online, report finds
- Imran Ahmed accused Elon Musk of creating a ‘safe space for racists’ on X
Elon Musk allowed ‘viciously anti-Semitic’ and Islamophobic posts to remain on
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said 98 percent of hate speech related to the conflict that it reported to the social media giant was still on the site seven days later.
The posts, which have been viewed nearly 25 million times, include denials of the Holocaust, claims that “Hitler saw the Jews for what they were” and calling Muslims “stinking rats.”
Imran Ahmed, the nonprofit’s CEO, accused tech billionaire Musk of creating a “safe space for racists” on the platform.
X, formerly Twitter, has been criticized in the past month for allowing misinformation, graphic violence and hate speech about the Israel-Gaza conflict to flood the platform.
Elon Musk (pictured) allows ‘viciously anti-Semitic’ and Islamophobic posts to remain on
The EU’s digital rights chief warned Musk he could fall foul of the bloc’s tough new digital laws, which are designed to restrict such content.
CCDH researchers found 200 “hateful” posts from 101 separate accounts published on both sides of the debate after the October 7 attack.
Nearly half of the profiles (43 in total) were ‘verified’ accounts, meaning they benefit from algorithmic improvements to the visibility of their posts.
This included posts glorifying the Nazis, promoting conspiracy theories and inciting violence against the Jewish people, while others referred to Palestinians as “animals” and denied their existence as a people.
The posts were reported to moderators via the official reporting tools on Tuesday, October 31 for violating platform rules. However, only four of the 200 messages were deleted after a week, while only one of the accounts was suspended and another two ‘locked’.
X, formerly Twitter, has been criticized in the past month for allowing misinformation, graphic violence and hate speech about the Israeli-Gaza conflict to flood the platform
CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said the findings were an “inevitable result” of Musk cutting security and moderation staff, allowing previously banned accounts to reappear on the platform and increasing visibility for everyone who paid to use the platform.
He said: “Following an unprecedented terrorist atrocity against Jews in Israel, and the subsequent armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, hate actors have seized the opportunity to hijack social media platforms to spread their bigotry and mobilize real violence against Jews and Muslims. , causing even more pain to be unleashed into the world.
‘X has tried to reassure advertisers and the public that they have a handle on hate speech – but our research shows that it is nothing more than empty words.
“Our ‘mystery shopper’ test of posting hateful rhetoric on Elon Musk’s platform.
X has been contacted for comment.