X Unleashes ‘Content Moderation’ Team, Potentially Violating Free Speech Pledge

January 30th, 2024 2:05 PM

Elon Musk’s X has hired a new content moderation team, sparking free speech concerns.

Soon after X (formerly Twitter) CEO Linda Yaccarino boasted about how much censorship occurs on the platform, Bloomberg reported that a new 100-person moderation team is coming to X. While the Texas-based team — dubbed the “Trust and Safety center of excellence” — will reportedly “mainly” deal with child sexual exploitation (CSE) content, the hiring of dozens of new censors raises concerns about increased censorship on X.

Bloomberg noted that Yaccarino is scheduled to testify before the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 31 about how her platform deals with CSE content. The outlet indicated the announcement of X’s new censorship team could be linked to Yaccarino’s upcoming Senate testimony.

Despite X owner Elon Musk’s stated goals of having a free speech platform, his employees, especially Yaccarino, continue to censor and suppress free speech on the platform. One X executive specifically and ominously mentioned the new censors will deal with “hate speech,” a leftist phrase for speech with which they disagree, Bloomberg reported.

While X announced the censorship team and its CSE connection, no further details have been provided on what the team will be doing. X business operations head Joe Benarroch told Bloomberg that the new team won’t just focus on CSE but on censoring other content such as “hate speech.” Yaccarino recently claimed that “hate speech” was not free speech. Ironically, Musk declared on Monday, “𝕏 enables the people to define the narrative.”

Will Musk’s X adhere to free speech ideals? As reported by The Verge, a “content moderation job posting for X in Austin says moderators will investigate issues like ‘spam and fraud’ and provide customer support.” 

Conservatives are under attack. Contact X at 415-222-9670 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.