Elon Musk's X [Twitter] Disables Misinformation Reports Ahead of US and Australia Elections

Social media platform of Elon Musk, Х [Twitter], has disabled the feature allowing users to report misinformation related to elections, according to Reuters.

In an open letter, research organization Reset.Tech Australia expressed concerns about the spread of false statements on Х [Twitter] just before significant elections in the United States and Australia.

The feature, which allowed users to report posts they believed to be misleading about politics, was introduced in 2022. Last week, Х [Twitter] removed the "Politics" category from its reporting menu in all jurisdictions except for EU countries, said Reset.Tech Australia.

However, users can still report Х [Twitter] posts worldwide for various other categories, such as promoting violence or hate speech.

The removal of the political reporting feature comes less than three weeks before Australia's first referendum in a quarter of a century, which will decide whether to change the Constitution to establish an advisory body for indigenous people in parliament, and 14 months before the U.S. presidential elections.

"It would be useful to understand why Х [Twitter] seems to be retreating from its commitment to combat serious disinformation that has spilled over into genuine political instability in the United States, particularly in the run-up to a pivotal year of elections worldwide," said Alice Dawkins, executive director of Reset.Tech Australia.

In June, the Australian eSafety Commissioner wrote a letter to Х [Twitter]  demanding an explanation for the surge in hate on the platform, noting that around 62,000 prominent accounts engaging in Nazi rhetoric had been restored.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), which will oversee the referendum on October 14, has stated that the spread of election misinformation is the worst it has ever witnessed.

Previously, the EU labelled Х [Twitter]  as the biggest source of Russian disinformation.

As previously reported, Reset.Tech Australia found that Х [Twitter] had not removed or labelled any posts containing misinformation about the Australian referendum for three weeks, even after being notified using the disabled feature.