The Guardian and Influential Figures Quit 'Toxic' X (Twitter); Ireland Demands Removal of Terrorist Content

The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, has officially announced that it will stop posting from its ‘official editorial accounts’ on X (Twitter).

‘We believe that the benefits of being on X now outweigh the negatives, and that resources can be better used to promote our journalism elsewhere,’ The Guardian said in a statement.

Also, users with numerous subscribers, such as actress Jamie Lee Curtis and journalist Don Lemon, are leaving their accounts on X en masse. These users decided to leave the platform after Donald Trump was elected for a second term. They argue that X, formerly known as Twitter, favours radical far-right users and raises concerns about the US presidential election campaign.

At the same time, Irish media regulators have ordered Elon Musk's X, TikTok and Instagram Meta to take ‘necessary measures’ to prevent the posting of terrorist content to comply with new internet security legislation after finding widespread violations and a lack of content control.

Ireland's media regulator Coimisiún na Meán said it made the ruling after its investigation found that social media networks had been ‘exposed to terrorist content’ due to weak processes.

Such rulings are made when a network receives at least two takedown orders from competent EU authorities, usually the police but sometimes a regulator, in the previous 12 months.

Orders under EU rules on terrorist content online typically require content to be taken down within an hour of the order.

‘TikTok, X and Meta (in relation to Instagram) will be required to take specific measures to protect their services from being used to disseminate terrorist content and to notify Coimisiún na Meán of the specific measures taken within three months of receiving the decision,’ the statement said.

Concerns about terrorist content on many social media platforms have been heightened following the Hamas attacks on Israel last October and arrests in Germany related to an alleged coup plot.

Among the measures they must take is the inclusion of provisions in their terms of use to prevent abuse of the platforms.

If the Irish commission finds the measures insufficient, it can impose fines of up to 4% of global revenue.