SHARP RISE IN HARMFUL CONTENT
IMDA found that X failed to curb a sharp rise in CSEM cases involving Singapore users. The number of such cases more than doubled from 33 in 2024 to 73 in 2025, despite the regulator informing the platform of the issue in 2024 and sharing detection indicators with them.
The cases of content sharing or linking to CSEM – 68 per cent of the 2025 cases – involved coordinated networks of accounts using terms commonly associated with CSEM, with links that direct Singapore users to external sites hosting CSEM.
The remaining 32 per cent of 2025 cases were self-generated CSEM. These involved accounts sharing posts with self-generated explicit sexual imagery from users in Singapore who were purportedly under 18.
These users included commonly known number patterns on their profile indicating their date of birth or age.
The report also found that a majority of these 73 cases were also on the platform for an extended period of time, ranging from nine to 31 weeks on average.
“X therefore had ample time to proactively detect and remove these cases,” said IMDA in its report.
IMDA pointed out that all 73 cases violated X’s own policies against CSEM however, X only removed them after they were flagged by IMDA.
