NYT: Child Porn Persists On Twitter Despite Musk’s Vow

The New York Times reports:

Over 120,000 views of a video showing a boy being sexually assaulted. A recommendation engine suggesting that a user follow content related to exploited children. Users continually posting abusive material, delays in taking it down when it is detected and friction with organizations that police it. All since Elon Musk declared that “removing child exploitation is priority #1” in a tweet in late November.

After Mr. Musk took the reins in late October, Twitter largely eliminated or lost staff experienced with the problem and failed to prevent the spread of abusive images previously identified by the authorities. Twitter also stopped paying for some detection software considered key to its efforts. All the while, people on dark-web forums discuss how Twitter remains a platform where they can easily find the material while avoiding detection.

Read the full article.

Elon Musk said soon after acquiring Twitter that removing child exploitation content was “priority #1.” But a New York Times review of Twitter’s efforts found that this imagery persists on the platform — and by some measures, the problem has gotten worse. https://t.co/crT2R1NDnm

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 6, 2023