The Media is the Message > Musk Curbs CSE on Twitter, western media silent

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The question here is, why did I have to get this story from India? Why are American MSM outlets not reporting this?

Killing two hashtags was needed to curb child exploitation on Twitter,

and it happened only after Elon Musk took over

21 November, 2022

Anurag

OpIndia

Child Sexual Exploitation material being removed from Twitter

On November 20, it came to light that Twitter had killed two of the most used hashtags for child sexual exploitation-related content on the platform. A Human Trafficking Survivor Advocate and critic of child sexual exploitation (CSE) said that Twitter is taking child exploitation seriously. In a tweet, Eliza Bleu said, “Wow! The most popular hashtag used to sell child sexual abuse material on Twitter is almost completely cleaned out.”

In a reply to a tweet that suggested Twitter has started addressing the problem of CSE content on the platform, Elon Musk said it is the “priority #1”.

In an exclusive interview with Teslarati, Bleu said under Elon Musk, things are changing, but a lot of work is still to be done. Bleu further pointed out that when Musk took over Twitter, there was already a lawsuit against the social media platform in the matter. She explained how videos of two minors, plaintiffs in the case, were sexually exploited, and their videos were leaked on Twitter. The social media platform refused when the victims approached Twitter and begged to remove the content. The content that the now-adult victims wanted Twitter to remove gained over 1,67,000 views and 2,223 retweets.

Blue has been vocal against the CSE material on Twitter. She noted that until Musk took over, the platform was slower to remove most of the content. Speaking to Teslarati, Bleu said she was happy to see the new changes the platform has been implementing.

In a follow-up tweet, she noted that three of the “biggest hashtags used by child abusers selling child sexual abuse material on Twitter have virtually been eliminated”.

Calling it a huge development, Bleu further added, “To those who aren’t aware yet, last week Twitter did add a direct reporting option for child sexual exploitation. (ONLY on tweets with content images/videos) this was not previously available and was a separate form that wasn’t easy to find.”

She shared screenshots of the options added by Twitter to report CSE material directly. OpIndia confirmed that such options are indeed available. Notably, the options mentioned by Bleu only appear for tweets with media in the form of an image or a video. These two specific options, where you can specify the video contained “non-consensual nudity” followed by “Child sexual exploitation” in the next step, make it much easier to report such content. Here is how you can report CSE content on Twitter.

Please note that this process is for tweets that contain images or videos. First of all, click on the three dots in the top right corner of the tweet to open the dropdown menu. In the menu, click on “Report Tweet”.

Please go to OpIndia to see the reporting process.

Bleu pointed out the need for a separate tab for adults experiencing sexual exploitation. She said, “It needs to be crystal clear for both adults and children experiencing sexual exploitation, and the reporting options need to be separate.”

Hashtags are being removed from the platform

Several hashtags are allegedly used to sell CSE material on social media platforms. In a video shared by Teslarati, two attorneys, Lisa Haba and Peter Gentala, representing the victims in the case against Twitter, explained how such tags were being used.

OpIndia investigated a couple of hashtags known to be used in CSE content. A similar search was carried out by Teslarati as well. It was found that Twitter is removing the majority of the content. However, new accounts and content keep popping up that needs to be dealt with. Some accounts were seen posting requests for such content.

OpIndia also noticed that while some of the content was visible in the “top” tab, other tabs like “photos”, “videos”, and “latest” were either empty or had only a couple of tweets. Some of the hashtags were still in use but seeing the way Twitter is actively removing CSE content, it is very much possible that the engineers at Twitter will find a way to curb the new content effectively. It must be noted that such updates are coming at a time when some “experts” have claimed that in the lack of a moderation team at Twitter, it would be hard for the platform to moderate explicit content.

Speaking to Teslarati, Bleu said the predators on the social media platform would continue to use a variety of hashtags. However, the same hashtags could also help the authorities to catch criminals. Bleu said, “After years of advocating for the minor survivors of Twitter, I’ve never been as hopeful as I am right now. I don’t expect perfection from a platform. All I’ve ever wanted was to see a sense of urgency around such a serious matter. In many of these cases, this is a matter of life or death for each victim, so every second matters.”

Bleu mentioned in a tweet that curbing content for three prominent hashtags does not mean the fight was over. She said, “Some of the other hashtags (outside of the main three) are still actively engaging in sharing and posting illegal child exploitation. Please be mindful of this. It’s not over yet.”

It is notable that since October 2020, Twitter has had a separate section for reporting CSE content on the platform. However, as per experts like Bleu, minimal effort was made by the platform until Musk took over the company. In October 2022, OpIndia detailed how, under ex-Twitter employee Vijaya Gadde, who was removed soon after Musk took over along with other top officials, Twitter had refused to take down child porn content even as the victim begged to remove it. Gadde was head of legal, policy, and trust at Twitter. Her role included handling issues such as harassment, misinformation, and harmful speech. Her failure to address repeated requests to take action against CSE content was heavily criticised by experts, victims and the public in general. Not only Gadde’s department, other teams, including human rights etc., failed to address the issue.

As mentioned at the top, I had to find this story in India where two media outlets covered it. Not a single western media outlet has seen fit to cover it. This is how important child sex abuse is to mainstream media in the modern world. 

We are drawing ever so much closer to Sodom. And, ever so much closer to the Lord returning to burn the Earth because of it.

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