- Elon Musk’s company, X, plans to hire 100 employees for a new content moderation center in Austin, focusing on combatting child sexual exploitation and enforcing content rules.
- This move could contribute to Austin’s tech hub status, as X already employs thousands of workers at its gigafactory in the city.
- Musk’s approach to content moderation has been criticized, but this investment in combating harmful content suggests a reevaluation of his strategy.
Additional Coverage:
- Elon Musk plans to build a new content moderation center for X in Austin (businessinsider.com)
Elon Musk’s company, X, is set to hire 100 employees for a new content moderation center in Austin, according to reports from Bloomberg. The focus of these moderators will be combatting child sexual exploitation and enforcing other content rules. Since Musk took over the platform, he has faced criticism for his approach to content moderation.
This move could contribute to Austin’s resurgence as a tech hub. X plans to hire 100 full-time workers for the new content moderation headquarters, as confirmed by Joe Benarroch, the company’s head of business operations. Musk’s other venture, Tesla, already employs tens of thousands of workers at its Austin gigafactory.
While an opening date has not been announced, employees at the new center will primarily be responsible for combatting child sexual exploitation content and enforcing X’s restrictions on hate speech. Benarroch stated the importance of these investments in preventing offenders from using the platform for distributing or engaging with such content. X requires users to be at least 13 years old, and only a small percentage of daily users fall into the 13-17 age range.
Since taking control of X in October 2022, Musk has faced backlash for his hands-off approach to trust and safety operations. He swiftly eliminated many content moderators and employees from the content moderation team, despite concerns from advertisers about an increase in hate speech on the platform. Prior to his takeover, Musk considered himself a “free speech absolutist” and criticized the platform for not adhering to free speech principles, which he believed undermined democracy.
This announcement of the new content moderation center comes after Musk’s attempt to prevent a California law regulating online content moderation. The law mandates social media companies to publicly disclose detailed annual reports about their content moderation practices. With the platform’s lack of moderation and the proliferation of questionable posts, X has faced challenges in growing its advertising revenue. This situation potentially indicates a reevaluation of Musk’s strategy.
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- Elon Musk plans to build a new content moderation center for X in Austin (businessinsider.com)