Elon’s Transparency Report Confirms X is Being Massively Manipulated
X / Twitter made a name for itself as the ‘internet’s town square’ – though the recency and openness of information shared on Twitter often draws criticism due to inaccuracies.
The platform’s owner has been cited as a misinformation super spreader regarding the recent US election. Not only that – X’s own AI product Grok, currently names Elon Musk as the biggest spreader of disinformation on X. This is primarily a reflection of journalism about the platform, and (barely consensual) user sentiment on the platform.
Prior to Elon’s Twitter takeover, the platform had a long history of publishing comprehensive transparency reports. These were seemingly forgotten after the takeover, in spite of Musk regularly tweeting about the importance of transparency.
It wasn’t until September 2024 that X published a transparency report, which users have noted was considerably less detailed than the original reports published by Twitter. To the credit of X, their new Transparency Centre has been updated to contain more regular reporting of the platform’s compliance with government requests and regulations.
At any rate – you should understand the scope of X’s transparency under current ownership, the state of content moderation on the platform, and what you can expect as a Twitter / X user.
X is a Hotbed of Spam and Platform Manipulation
The H2 2024 X Transparency report makes the scale of content moderation clear, with over 181 Million user reports filed from July – December 2024. It’s important to note that this figure excludes spam and platform manipulation.
Spam and platform manipulation is reported on separately in the report, and would add a massive 335 million total actions to the report. That is to say; Spam and Platform Manipulation is the leading content moderation issue on X, despite being removed from total figures and relegated to a single page in the middle of the document.
Outside of Spam and Platform Manipulation, Abuse and Harassment dominates the report, constituting about 69 million user reports.
Despite X taking more action against Spam and Platform Manipulation than any other category, they have chosen to exclude the “User Reports” metrics from the Transparency Report. Why not extend ‘transparency’ to the most prevalent content moderation issue on the platform?
While you might fall into a wave of “Platform Manipulation” bans for having multiple accounts, your old content can create a range of other risks that you can start mitigating today.
The Risks of Old Content on Your X Account
- Damaged Reputation: Friends, family, Prospective employers, clients, and even romantic partners might scrutinize your X history. A controversial tweet, even if years old, could cost you opportunities.
- Lost Opportunities: Social media mishaps can derail career prospects. Don’t let your past tweets be the reason you miss out on a job, promotion, or other significant opportunity.
- Online Harassment: Old tweets can be weaponized by trolls or malicious actors, leading to online harassment and doxing.
- Evolving Social Norms: What was acceptable to say online five years ago might be considered offensive today. Your old tweets might not align with current social standards.
- Legal Repercussions: Depending on the content, your tweets could even lead to legal trouble.
Bulk Deleting Your Content from X/Twitter
Fortunately, there are a range of ways to effectively manage your digital footprint and X history! Our app – redact.dev – is the most powerful solution for Twitter content deletion, offering bulk deletion of posts, replies, messages, likes, and followers – for free.
Redact also lets you automate and fine-tune your mass deletion on Twitter / X. You can set up deletions like “Delete everything with the keyword ‘bluesky’ every 30 days”.
Download Redact, and avoid false-positive content enforcement actions from Twitter / X, targeted harassment and bullying, reputation harm, and other negative implications.