Elon Musk’s platform, “X,” has reportedly cut over 1200 employees worldwide in the content supervision departments, according to new figures published by the Australian regulatory body overseeing the internet sector, as reported by the French news agency. The Australian eSafety Authority deemed these “deep cuts” and the reactivation of thousands of banned accounts as creating the “worst situation” for the dissemination of negative content on the platform.
In recent months, the regulatory body, eSafety, has focused specifically on the X platform, stating that Elon Musk’s acquisition coincided with a peak of “toxicity and hatred” on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Using Australian law for online safety, the eSafety Commission obtained a detailed list of software engineers, content moderators, and other security employees working at X. Julie Inman Grant, the Commissioner of the Australian regulatory body and a former Twitter employee, clarified that this is the first time these numbers are being disclosed.
Grant revealed that 1213 specialists in the supervision team, including external collaborators, have left the X platform since Elon Musk acquired it in October 2022, with 80% of them being software engineers.
Grant stated to the French press agency that “letting go of 80% of these specialized engineers is akin to Volvo, famous for its safety standards, letting go of all its designers or engineers.” According to her, this is the “worst-case scenario. You significantly reduce your defenses and reintroduce repeat offenders to the platform.”
Australia has led global efforts to regulate social media platforms, forcing tech companies to explain how they handle issues like hate speech and child sexual abuse. In October, the eSafety Commission imposed a fine of around $410,000 on X, stating that the platform failed to demonstrate a clear effort to combat the spread of child sexual abuse content.
However, X ignored the final deadline to pay the fine before taking legal action to challenge it.
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