Pornographic content on X/Twitter has proliferated since dramatic cuts to content moderation efforts, the French-speaking Belgian Audiovisual Regulator (CSA) has warned.
The CSA used the artificial intelligence tool 'KIVI', developed by the German start-up Condat, to monitor pornographic content over a period of four months (6 September to 11 December). Using 500 key-words and 90 pre-identified "super-spreading" accounts, the project recorded almost 5,000 problematic accounts in total.
1,041 were subsequently investigated by the regulator, and 908 accounts – so 98% of cases under scrutiny – were deemed "clearly pornographic". Most content is posted by accounts dedicated to doing so in enormous quantities, and users are either amateurs (not seeking to monetise content) or professionals (advertising a paid service or paid content on another platform such as OnlyFans).
The majority of accounts disseminating porn did not list their location, but the CSA was able to determine that around 90 were operating from Wallonia, Belgium's French-speaking region.
"Our monitoring shows once again the total absence of moderation on X," CSA President Karim Ibourki told Le Soir. "X is a totally deregulated platform. So-called 'freedom of expression' has become a front for a platform that is only interested in making money."
The CSA's findings only represent a miniscule portion of pornographic content on X as it only investigated posts in French and excluded child pornography from its remit. Repeated waves of mass dismissals have greatly depleted the platform's content moderation capacities.
The pros of AI, the cons of legislation
Condat regularly collaborates with the German Media Regulator (DLM) to carry out similar research. KIVI falls under the category of 'machine-learning' AI, which uses feedback on the data it collects to improve and perfect its precision over time.
For Ibourki, this latest project proves that AI tools are able to identify and subsequently block harmful online content with a narrow margin of error. The CSA hopes to use it when monitoring for online hate speech and disinformation in the future.
However, the President emphasises that such an approach must be accompanied by reinforced content moderation at the legislative level. He expresses frustration at the fact that X and other pornography sites continue to slip through the cracks despite the existence of robust EU legislation.
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Pornhub, for instance, has escaped sufficient regulation due to a difficulty in defining it: as a video platform, it falls under the supervision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), but as a 'Very Large Online Platform' (VLOP) bringing in over 45 million visitors annually, it answers to the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Ibourki laments the lack of tangible impact of European legislation as a result of such ambivalence. "So we have two legal instruments that say we have to protect minors, but in fact nothing happens. Neither at national level, nor at European level."
The CSA can only carry out investigations based on filed complaints. "Our powers are limited," says Iboruki. "You might as well empty the sea with a teaspoon. Our action is not decisive in relation to the mass of content."
