Fact check: Post misinterprets data on Twitter accounts suspended for child exploitation

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Twitter removed over 44,000 accounts linked to child sexual exploitation in India since Musk's takeover

Elon Musk recently said he has discovered, since acquiring Twitter, that child sex abuse was a severe problem on the platform and fighting it would be his top priority. But some social media users are exaggerating his efforts.

"Since @elonmusk took over Twitter, he’s already removed over 44,000 Twitter pages involved with child sexual exploitation – in just India alone," reads a Dec. 20 tweet (direct link, archived link) from Ben Swann, a conservative media personality. "What has really been going on behind the scenes at Twitter? Why was the situation allowed to get this out of control in the first place?"

Musk tweeted in reply "Good question..."

The Twitter exchange generated more than 100,000 likes in less than a week. Swann shared a screenshot of the exchange to Facebook (direct link, archived link), where it generated more than 900 shares.

But the claim is baseless.

The figure cited in the post represents the total number of accounts suspended globally for child sexual exploitation – not just in India, according to a Twitter report. And even before Musk took over, Twitter has been actively involved in combating child sexual exploitation, data shows.

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USA TODAY reached out to Musk on Twitter and through Twitter and Tesla's press offices, but didn't receive comment on the claim. Swann did not reply to USA TODAY's request for comment, either.

Post misrepresents data from Twitter report

In accordance with India’s information technology rules, Twitter is required to publish monthly transparency reports that contain information on user complaints submitted to a grievance officer in India and action taken on those complaints, as well as information on accounts suspended globally through Twitter’s internal monitoring tools.

Musk acquired Twitter on Oct. 27. The most recent Twitter report, which contains data from Oct. 26 to Nov. 25, shows that a total of 45,589 accounts were suspended for "child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity and similar content" globally. This figure does not just include actions taken in India, as the social media post claims.

The report does not give a breakdown of how many of these accounts were suspended in India.

Fact check: Post falsely claims Elon Musk exposed a Jack Dorsey-Hunter Biden connection

However, the report does say there were no grievances reported and no URLs that Twitter took action against in India for child sexual exploitation in that time span. It notes that a majority of complaints related to "account verification, account access, or seeking assistance or information regarding an account or Twitter’s enforcement actions" were not included in the data.

That monthly stat was fairly consistent with the period before Musk's takeover.

For instance, between Sept. 26 and Oct. 25, 44,611 accounts were suspended globally in the child sexual exploitation/non-consensual nudity category, and between Aug. 26 and Sept. 25, that number was 52,141. Both reports show that there were zero grievances reported and URLs that Twitter took action on in India for child sexual exploitation.

Bloomberg reported that Musk has reduced the size of the Twitter team dedicated to tackling child sexual exploitation on the platform.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

USA TODAY has debunked other claims related to Musk, including baseless assertions that he is buying Meta and that he tweeted that Jack Dorsey was paid to suppress Hunter Biden info.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Twitter removed over 44,000 accounts linked to child sexual exploitation in India since Musk's takeover. The figure cited in the post represents the total number of accounts suspended globally for child sexual exploitation/nonconsensual nudity – not just in India. And even before Musk took over, Twitter has been actively involved in suspending child sexual exploitation accounts, data shows.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Post misinterprets data on suspended Twitter accounts