Elon Musk’s X has deleted hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts since attack, says CEO Yaccarino

X CEO Linda Yaccarino has revealed that the platform has taken down hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts, and either removed or labelled tens of thousands of pieces of content were in support of Hamas’ action, or anti-semitic in nature

Linda Yaccarino, the Chief Executive Officer of the X social media platform, announced on Thursday that the company had taken significant action in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel.

Hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts were removed, and tens of thousands of pieces of content were either removed or labelled.

This move was a direct response to a 24-hour ultimatum issued by Thierry Breton, the European Union’s industry chief, to Elon Musk.

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The ultimatum demanded that Musk take measures to combat the dissemination of disinformation on X, formerly known as Twitter, in compliance with new EU online content regulations that have been put in place since the Hamas attack.

Breton said he had indications that X was being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the European Union.

The recently implemented Digital Services Act (DSA) requires large online platforms, including X and Meta’s Facebook, to remove illegal content and to take measures to tackle the risks to public security and civic discourse.

X has redistributed resources and refocused internal teams to address the rapidly evolving situation, Yaccarino said, without specifying the changes. She added that the Musk-owned company assembled a leadership group to assess the situation shortly after the attack.

“We wish to reiterate that we welcome further engagement with you and your team, including a meeting, to address any specific questions and look forward to receiving further specifics to which we can respond” Yaccarino said in the letter to Breton, posted on X.

X has responded to more than 80 take-down requests received in the EU within required the timeline and has not received any notices from Europol regarding illegal content on the platform, the letter states.

Breton issued a similar warning to Meta on Wednesday, giving the company 24 hours to inform him of measures taken to counter the spread of disinformation on its platforms following the attack on Israel.

(With inputs from agency)