X says it has suspended over 5 million accounts in its first transparency report since Elon Musk took over

Elon Musk’s social media platform X released its first transparency report on Wednesday since the outspoken billionaire bought the company.

The report, which details its content moderation practices, shows the company removed millions of posts and accounts from the site in the first half of the year.

X, formerly Twitter, suspended nearly 5.3 million accounts in that time, compared with the 1.6 million accounts the company reported suspending in the first half of 2022.

The social media company also “removed or flagged” more than 10.6 million posts for violating the platform’s rules — about 5 million of which it categorized as violating its “hate conduct” policy.

Posts containing “violent content” – 2.2 million – or “abuse and harassment” – 2.6 million – also made up a large portion of the content that was flagged or removed.

The company does not distinguish between the number of posts that were removed and how many were tagged.

In an April 2023 blog post published in lieu of a transparency report, by contrast, the company said it was asking users to remove 6.5 million pieces of content that violated the company’s rules in the first six months of 2022, an increase of 29% from the second half of 2021.

Some have blamed Musk for turning an entertainment platform into a chaotic and toxic one.

Musk has previously posted conspiracy theories and feuded with world leaders and politicians.

X is currently banned in Brazil due to a dispute between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge over freedom of speech, far-right accounts and disinformation.

To enforce their rules, X said, the company uses a combination of machine learning and human review.

Automated systems either take action or present content to human moderators.

Posts violating X’s policy made up less than 1% of all content on the site, the company said.

When Musk was trying to buy Twitter in 2022, he said he was doing so because it wasn’t fulfilling its potential as a “platform for free speech.”

Since buying the company in October, Musk has fired many of its staff and made other changes, leading to a steady exodus of celebrities, public figures, organizations and ordinary people from the platform.