X Corp is taking legal action against The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) over reports claiming an increase in hate speech instances on the platform since Elon Musk acquired it. The CCDH published several reports, alleging a rise in hate speech after Musk's ownership. The group pointed out slurs against Black and transgender people increased significantly under Musk's leadership. The research also suggested that Twitter was not enforcing rule-breaking tweets from Twitter Blue subscribers and allowed tweets referencing the LGBTQ+ community alongside 'grooming' slurs to remain active.

X Corp's new approach, "Freedom of Speech, Not Reach," leans towards leaving tweets up rather than removing them, which aligns with some of the CCDH's findings. However, X is now challenging the CCDH's claims in court, and Musk seeks to uncover the group's backers.

The CCDH stated that X Corp threatened them with legal action for exposing the proliferation of hate and lies on Twitter since Musk became the owner. The move was perceived as an attempt to silence honest criticism and independent research, aiming to improve relations with advertisers.

Both X and Meta criticized the CCDH's findings as being limited in scope and not indicative of their overall performance in mitigating hate speech. Third-party assessments can be limited in accessing posts and examples, making the review relative to the content they include in their study pool.

X Corp has repeatedly claimed that hate speech impressions are down significantly since Musk took over. However, they have not provided detailed data to substantiate this assertion. Critics argue that X could combat these claims by publishing a comprehensive report detailing their enforcement actions and how they arrived at the 99.99% figure.

The interpretation of comments and mentions is a point of contention. X's assessment partner, Sprinklr, takes a nuanced approach, analyzing the context of identified hate terms to eliminate false positives and negatives. For example, they found that 86% of X posts containing hate speech terms were not harmful or intended to cause harm. The lack of detailed data from X makes it challenging to counter such claims.

X Corp's action against the CCDH has led to questions about their intentions and funding. The CCDH maintains that X's legal threats aim to intimidate those advocating against incitement, hate speech, and harmful content online. Producing comprehensive data and reports could have been a simpler and more credible counter to the CCDH's claims, rather than resorting to legal action.

X To Take Legal Action Against CCDH Over Claims Of Rising Hate Speech On The App