iWorld
X reports 1.3 million CSAM cases to NCMEC in 2026
Platform says more than 780,000 users were suspended in the past month over violations
MUMBAI: X is putting its foot down on a dark corner of the internet, stepping up its fight against child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including content generated using artificial intelligence. The platform said it has reported more than 1.3 million cases to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) so far this year.
X said it has a “zero tolerance” policy for CSAM, whether generated by people or AI, with violations resulting in reporting and permanent account suspension.
The platform said it had permanently suspended more than 780,000 users in the past month alone, alongside measures designed to prevent banned users from returning. Whenever it becomes aware of apparent CSAM, including AI-generated material, X said it reports the cases to NCMEC.
The company said its enforcement combines automated detection with human review. Uploaded media is checked against databases of known CSAM hashes, including those maintained by NCMEC and industry groups such as the Internet Watch Foundation. X said it uses PhotoDNA alongside its own detection technology to identify previously flagged material.
But the net does not stop with known content. X said it also uses language models and custom classifiers after content is created to identify material that may not yet appear in hash databases. Child-safety teams conduct manual reviews, while keyword searches, media sweeps and automated or partially automated systems are deployed when signals point to possible abuse material.
AI-generated CSAM falls under the same Child Sexual Exploitation policy as non-generative CSAM, the company said. Users who deliberately try to bypass X’s safeguards to create such material could also face legal action.
According to X, its more than 1.3 million reports to NCMEC in the first half of 2026 resulted in at least 543 arrests. The company did not provide further details on the arrests in the information released.
X said its detection machinery is being continually updated, with improvements to hash coverage, classifiers and review workflows. The company described CSAM as an “ever evolving and highly adversarial” threat, requiring its safeguards to keep changing as well.
The platform is also a member of the Tech Coalition, an alliance of technology companies working to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse online. X said members share best practices, challenges and information on emerging techniques for detecting and preventing CSAM.
The figures underline the scale of the challenge facing social platforms as generative AI adds another layer to the fight. For X, the latest approach is a combination of old-school human scrutiny and increasingly sophisticated automated detection — with the aim of making sure harmful material is caught before it can spread further.
