Twitter’s CSAM situation is worse than we thought

It’s no secret that Twitter has seen its share of online abuse, with reports of widespread child sexual abuse material (CSAM) being shared on its platform. Unfortunately, according to a new report by the Digital Citizens Alliance, the situation might be worse than we thought.

What does the report say?

The report concludes that Twitter isn’t doing enough to combat CSAM and other forms of online abuse. Here are some of the key points from the report:

• Twitter is failing to comply with the @Safety guidelines it signed up to in December 2019. The guidelines, which include comprehensive CSAM prevention measures, are not being implemented on the platform.
• Twitter is not effectively responding to reports of illegal content, including CSAM. The report found that Twitter’s response has been slow and inadequate.
• Twitter’s failure to take action against abusive accounts has led to an increase in accounts being created specifically to share CSAM.

What can be done?

The report makes a number of recommendations on how Twitter can better tackle CSAM and other forms of online abuse. These include:

• Creating a “report button” on the platform to enable users to quickly report potentially illegal content.
• Tightening up its content moderation policies, with a particular focus on CSAM.
• Improving its technology, such as using automated tools to detect and take action on accounts sharing CSAM or posting abusive content.
• Implementing additional resources and staff to investigate and act on reports of illegal content.

The bottom line

It’s clear that Twitter still isn’t doing enough to combat CSAM and other forms of online abuse. It’s time for Twitter to take action and implement the recommendations set out in the report, in order to make its platform a safer and more enjoyable place to be.