Summary

  • Ofcom says X’s first quarterly report appears to fall within the review-time commitments accepted in May: a 24-hour average and at least 85% reviewed within 48 hours over a three-month period.
  • The clock measures review and assessment, not successful removal. Ofcom has not yet cross-checked the figures and says it remains concerned about takedown effectiveness.

Ofcom’s 14 October update says X has submitted its first quarterly report on user reports of suspected illegal hate and terrorist content. The regulator says the latest data appear to show faster average handling than evidence it analysed earlier this year, and fall within the response windows in X’s public commitments. That is a positive process signal, but a narrow one.

Those commitments were accepted by Ofcom in May. For reports made through X’s dedicated UK illegal-content tool, X undertook to review and assess suspected illegal hate and terrorist content within an average of 24 hours over three months, with at least 85% reviewed and assessed within 48 hours over the same period. It also agreed to submit quarterly performance data over 12 months.

The October update does not publish the report’s underlying counts, denominator, case-level timestamps or removal rate. Ofcom says it will cross-check the metrics against its own tests and expects X to sustain the reported performance. The update also records ongoing concerns about the effectiveness of X’s response in taking down illegal content and mixed reports about sustained engagement with third-party experts.

The distinction matters. “Reviewed and assessed” describes a step in a moderation process; it does not show that an item was removed, that the decision was correct, or that the person who reported it received an effective remedy. A service can meet a review clock while leaving the harder outcome question open. The public update supplies no basis for calculating how often that happened in this quarter.

This monitoring exercise is separate from Ofcom’s statutory investigation into X Internet Unlimited Company. That case remains open. Ofcom’s 14 October case update says it is focusing on duties concerning illegal content, will issue a provisional notice if it finds reasonable grounds to believe there was a failure, and has made no findings at this point. The quarterly commitment report is not a ruling on that case or on compliance with every Online Safety Act duty.

Ofcom expects to provide further analysis early in 2027, after receiving more data. Until then, the first report establishes that X’s submitted timing metrics appear to sit within the agreed windows. It does not establish that harmful material was consistently removed or that moderation outcomes were effective.

Sources

  1. Ofcom, 14 October 2026: Monitoring X’s response to hate and terror content.
  2. Ofcom, 15 May 2026: X’s public commitments on illegal hate and terror content.
  3. Ofcom, X statutory investigation, open and updated 14 October 2026.