Dear Colleagues, I think this new and timely report might interest many of you researching social media platforms' trust and safety policies and moderation - The Israel Internet Association <https://en.isoc.org.il/> recently published a new study assessing the performance of various social media platforms in handling harmful content and disinformation. In an age when social media platforms are a central tool for public discourse and access to information, user safety on these platforms is of utmost importance. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, these very platforms have been flooded with harmful, toxic and offensive content, including gruesome footage of the October 7 attacks filmed by the attackers themselves, with hate speech, misinformation and other violations of platform policies appearing at speeds and volumes that the platforms were unprepared to contend with. The Israel Internet Association set out to assess the extent of the platforms’ failure to contend with this phenomenon, and how true they remained to their public promises to ensure user safety in the current state of emergency. Our study evaluated the nature and quality of responses received from leading social media platforms, assessing the manner in which they reacted to complaints and reports of policy-violating content. The data is drawn from a pool of hundreds of reports submitted by the Israel Internet Association’s Internet Safety Hotline <https://en.isoc.org.il/the-internet-safety-hotline> (recognized by most major social media platforms as a Trusted Flagger) during the first two months of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. For a brief summary of the paper and findings: Drowning in the Flood: ISOC-IL Releases New Study Documenting Social Media Platforms' Failure to Enforce Safety Policies <https://en.isoc.org.il/about/news-room/isoc-il-releases-new-study-documenting-social-media-giants-failure-to-enforce-safety-policies> See the full data and analysis here: Drowning in the Flood: Social Media Platforms’ Management of Harmful and Pro-Terror Content During the October 7 Attack and the Israel-Hamas War <https://en.isoc.org.il/policy-community/policy-papers/oct7-social/drowning-in-the-flood> The findings are troubling, and show that response times were exceedingly slow, with little to no action on weekends. Handling of content requiring manual review or contextual understanding was notably poor, revealing significant differences between content types and across different platforms. We show that the same platforms have succeeded in similar situations in other countries, suggesting that success is possible when appropriate resources are channeled into achieving it. We present detailed recommendations as to how to remedy the present situation, and emphasize that responsibility lies not only with the platforms but also with governments and legislators, who permit these companies to operate with minimal transparency and accountability. Best wishes Edan * Edan Ring** | VP Community Affairs** | * *Israel Internet Association ISOC-IL* 054-6680085 | www.isoc.org.il | edan.ring@isoc.org.il <rani@isoc.org.il> | איגוד-האינטרנט.ישראל <http://xn----zhcbgfhe2aacg8fb5i.xn--4dbrk0ce/> -- --- Visit my website: https://www.edanring.co.il/