Members of the Jewish community comfort each other following a deadly terror attack during Yom Kippur services at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, northern England, October 2, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

X agrees to UK crackdown on hate speech, terror content after antisemitic attacks

British regulator says commitments by social media platform are ‘of particular importance’ following recent attacks on British Jews; activist: X still ‘failing in so many regards’

by · The Times of Israel

Elon Musk’s X has agreed to strengthen protection for UK users against terrorist content as well as antisemitism and other hate speech, Britain’s media regulator said Friday, after repeated attacks on the country’s Jewish community triggered mounting regulatory pressure.

Under the agreement, Ofcom said the social media platform will review suspected illegal hate and terrorism-related posts within 24 hours on average, and assess at least 85 percent within 48 hours.

Danny Stone, chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, said the commitments were “a good start” but that X was still “failing in so many regards” to tackle racism.

X — which regularly says it enforces bans on terrorist groups and hateful content — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The platform had promised to restrict access in Britain to accounts operated by or on behalf of organizations banned under UK terrorism laws, and will submit quarterly performance data to Ofcom over the next year, the regulator added.

X would also engage external experts to improve its reporting systems after concerns from civil society groups that flagged content was not always clearly received or acted on, Ofcom said.

“We have evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech are persisting on some of the largest social media sites,” Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s online safety group director, said.

“This is of particular importance in the UK following a number of recent hate-motivated crimes suffered by the country’s Jewish community.”

Britain’s King Charles III greets Jewish residents in Golders Green, north London, on May 14, 2026. (Richard Pohle via AFP)

British and other diaspora Jewish communities have seen an uptick in antisemitic attacks since the Gaza war was sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, with another surge in attacks since the US and Israel launched war on Iran on February 28.

In north London’s Golders Green neighborhood, home to a large Jewish community, the attacks during the Iran war have included the stabbing of two men last month and an arson attack against four Jewish community ambulance vehicles in March.

Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said the commitments by X in Britain followed “sustained campaigning” after last year’s fatal Yom Kippur terror attack on Manchester’s Heaton Park Synagogue.

Regulators in the European Union, Australia and Singapore have also pressed the platform over illegal or terrorist content, and the European Commission has opened a formal probe into whether X is failing to curb hate speech.

X owner Elon Musk uses his phone during a state dinner for US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on May 14, 2026. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

The new commitments in Britain follow increased scrutiny of X’s platform and artificial intelligence tools.

In February, Reuters reported that Musk’s Grok chatbot generated sexualized images in many cases, even when users warned that subjects had not consented.

Ofcom said its own investigation into X, including into its systems for tackling illegal content and issues related to Grok, remains ongoing.