X Cuts Safety Staff and Reinstates Banned Accounts, Creating 'Perfect Storm' for Harmful Content

Australia's eSafety Commission reports a significant slowdown in X's responses to user reports of hateful content amid ongoing legal dispute over child exploitation content.

• Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, has cut its global trust and safety staff by 30%, including an 80% reduction in safety engineers, according to Australia's eSafety Commission.
• The company also reinstated 6,100 previously banned accounts, including 194 that had been suspended for hateful conduct.
• The eSafety Commission has said that these changes have created a 'perfect storm' for the spread of harmful content.
• X's responses to user reports of hateful content have slowed since Musk took over.
• The company is currently in a legal dispute with the eSafety Commission over a fine of 610,500 Australian dollars ($385,000) for failing to fully explain how it was tackling child sexual exploitation content.

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