Anti-terror tech group worried Musk's X membership threatens its credibility, reports The Sunday Times via Reuters
(Reuters) – An anti-terrorist technology group is concerned about content posted on Elon Musk's X by the Palestinian terror group Hamas and is worried about the social media's membership on its board, the Sunday Times reported.
Members of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) believe the group's credibility is undermined by X's membership and position on the board, according to the Sunday Times. GIFCT also includes major social media groups Facebook (NASDAQ: ), Microsoft (NASDAQ: ), Twitter and Alphabet (NASDAQ: )'s YouTube.
IX Corp and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Sunday Times said X, officially known as Twitter, is now the easiest social media platform to find Hamas videos, citing the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that fights extremism and racism.
It said that within 10 minutes CST researchers were able to find in X videos from the UK government the banned terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
According to the Sunday Times a statement by the GIFCT's independent advisory committee for its 2023 annual report expressing concerns about trust and internet security was directed at X.
The advisory body said it was “increasingly concerned about the significant decline in online trust and security capabilities of certain platforms, and the perceived decline in the importance of this issue, which has a negative impact on the ability of companies to moderate excessive content online”.
The Sunday Times said Musk allowed banned extremists to return to X, allowed anyone to pay for a verification token and fired most of his content vetting team, as part of the billionaire's plan to turn X into a “freedom of speech” platform.
The GIFCT was created in 2017 under pressure from the US and European governments. The Sunday Times newspaper said that X, who is a founding member of this organization, is failing to fully contribute financially to this anti-establishment organization.
