Elon Musk’s social media platform X has removed hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts, says CEO

Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts and taken down or labelled thousands of pieces of content since the militant group’s attack on Israel, according to the company’s chief executive.

Linda Yaccarino has outlined efforts by X to get a handle on illegal content flourishing on the platform.She was responding to a warning from a top European Union official, who requested information on how X is complying during the Israel-Hamas war with tough new EU digital rules aimed at cleaning up social media platforms, as reported by the PA news agency.

“So far since the start of the conflict X has identified and removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts from the platform,” Ms Yaccarino said in a letter posted on X.

The platform is “proportionately and effectively assessing and addressing identified fake and manipulated content during this constantly evolving and shifting crisis”, she wrote in response to the request from European commissioner Thierry Breton, the digital enforcer for the 27-nation bloc.

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which took effect in August, social media companies have to step up policing of their platforms for illegal content, under threat of hefty fines.

“There is no place on X for terrorist organisations or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time, including proactive efforts,” Yaccarino said in her letter. She added that X has taken action to “remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content” and pointed out that Community Notes, a feature that allows users to add their own fact-checks to posts, is “visible on thousands of posts, generating millions of impressions”.

Since billionaire Musk acquired Twitter last year and then renamed it, experts say the platform has become not just unreliable but actively promotes falsehoods, while a study commissioned by the EU found that it is the worst-performing platform for online disinformation. Rivals such as TikTok and Facebook are, however, also coping with a flood of unsubstantiated rumours and falsehoods about the Middle Eastern conflict. Similar letters have also been sent from Breton to the owners of these platforms.

In response to the letter from Yaccarino, Breton wrote on X: “We have received the reply by @X to our letter raising concerns about the spread of illegal content and disinformation related to the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. The #DSA enforcement team will analyse the reply and decide on next steps.”

It is understood that no response to the letter has been received from other social media bosses. Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan has also told UK bosses at Google, Meta, X, TikTok and Snapchat that they must take down harmful content quickly from their sites, following misinformation spread online about the Israel-Hamas conflict.