Content material moderation stays a serious problem on X, regardless of proprietor Elon Musk insisting that its crowd-sourced Group Notes are the important thing answer for combatting dangerous content material.

Final week, AI-generated pictures of singer Taylor Swift being sexually assaulted by NFL followers gained large traction on X, reaching over 27 million views, and 260,000 likes, earlier than the originating account was suspended.

Swift is now reportedly exploring authorized motion towards X and the creator of the content material, whereas X, unable to cease the unfold of the images, regardless of that preliminary suspension, has now banned all searches for “Taylor Swift” within the app in response.

Which isn’t precisely an ideal endorsement of the effectiveness of its Group Notes strategy. And whereas this content material is in violation of X’s Delicate Media coverage, and would due to this fact be eliminated no matter Group Notes being issued, the truth that X hasn’t been capable of cease the photographs being unfold means that the platform could possibly be leaning an excessive amount of into its crowd-sourced moderation strategy, versus hiring its personal content material moderators.

Which X is seeking to handle. At the moment, X introduced that it’s constructing a brand new, 100-person content material moderation middle in Texas, which can concentrate on youngster sexual abuse content material, however may even be tasked with managing different components as properly.

That’s seemingly an admission that Group Notes can’t be relied upon to do all of the heavy lifting on this respect. However on the identical time, X’s new “freedom of speech, not attain” strategy is centered round the truth that its consumer neighborhood must be who decides what’s acceptable and what’s not within the app, and that there shouldn’t be a central arbiter of moderation choices, as there had been on Twitter previously.

Group Notes, at the least in idea, addresses this, however clearly, extra must be carried out to deal with the broader unfold of dangerous materials. Whereas that the identical time, X’s claims that it’s eradicating bots have additionally come below extra scrutiny.

As reported by The Guardian, the German Authorities has reportedly uncovered an unlimited community of Russian-originated bots within the app, which have been coordinating to seed anti-Ukraine sentiment amongst German customers.

As per The Guardian:

“Utilizing specialised monitoring software program, the consultants uncovered an enormous path of posts over a one-month interval from 10 December, which amounted to a classy and concerted onslaught on Berlin’s assist for Ukraine. Greater than 1m German-language posts have been despatched from an estimated 50,000 faux accounts, amounting to a price of two each second. The overwhelming tone of the messages was the suggestion that the federal government of Olaf Scholz was neglecting the wants of Germans because of its assist for Ukraine, each when it comes to weapons and assist, in addition to by taking in additional than one million refugees.”

X has been working to eradicate bot farms of this kind through the use of “cost verification” as a way to make sure that actual individuals are behind each profile within the app, each by pushing customers in direction of its X Premium verification program, and thru a brand new take a look at of a $1 payment to interact within the app.

In idea, that ought to make bot applications like this more and more cost-prohibitive, thereby limiting their use. If the $1 payment have been in place in Germany, for instance (it’s at the moment being examined in New Zealand and the Philippines), it could have value this operation $50k simply to start.

Although, evidently, that additionally hasn’t been the obstacle that X had hoped, with varied verified bot profiles nonetheless posting automated messages within the app.

Basically, X’s options to deal with content material moderation and bots, the 2 key problems with focus repeatedly acknowledged by Elon as his major drivers in evolving the app, have up to now not labored out as deliberate. Which has led to mistrust amongst advert companions and regulators, and broader considerations concerning the platform’s shift away from human moderation.

X clearly wants to enhance on each fronts, and as famous, it has seemingly acknowledged this by asserting plans for extra human moderators. However that additionally comes with elevated prices, and with X’s margins already being crushed because of key advert companions pausing their campaigns, it has some work forward of it to get its methods heading in the right direction.

Content material moderation is a serious problem for each platform, and it all the time appeared unlikely that X would be capable to cull 80% of its workforce and nonetheless keep the operational capability to police these components.

Possibly, by means of improved machine studying, it will possibly nonetheless preserve prices down and improve its monitoring methods. But it surely’s one other problem for the Musk-owned app, which may see extra customers and types trying elsewhere.