X continues to host CSAM content

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X is still hosting a range of CSAM material, according to new insights published by the Canadian Center for Child Protection, despite platform owner Elon Musk making the eradication of child abuse content a top priority of his reformation approach. 

As reported by the New York Times, the CCCP found that X’s own Grok chatbot has enabled users to generate CSAM material, contributing to the platform’s ongoing issues with CSAM content.

The New York Times also ran its own experiment, which found that X users continue to share CSAM material to the app. This includes material that has been previously flagged by authorities, which undermines X’s reported success in eliminating CSAM material.

Shortly after acquiring Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk made repeated public statements about his focus on combating CSAM content, which he claimed had been ignored by previous management. Indeed, Musk said that eliminating CSAM was “Priority #1.” The platform followed up with a range of announcements relating to its enhanced efforts to combat harmful material.

Yet despite X’s public statements, third-party analysis has continued to show that CSAM content remains a problem for the app. In some ways, this problem may have even been exacerbated under Musk’s reformed platform rules.

The nudification trend earlier this year, which saw X’s users asking the Grok chatbot to generate deepfake images of people, brought this into the light once again. Reports suggested that images of minors were also part of this trend. X said it has since made changes to Grok to restrict this type of misuse, but reports suggest that it is still possible to use the tool to generate nude imagery.

X was recently taken to court by a group of sexual abuse survivors who said that Grok had been trained on pre-existing and known CSAM, which facilitated the generation of CSAM content.

On another front, X also tried to block the implementation of a law that would ban nudification technology, claiming that the proposed laws extended beyond the U.S. constitution.  

On balance, it seems that X’s free speech ethos has continued to clash with its push to eradicate harmful content in the app. Apparently, that has also made it difficult for X to address CSAM content, leading to its ongoing availability in the app.