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Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on removing child sexual abuse material at scale with “no mercy” for abusers
Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on removing child sexual abuse (CSAM) at scale with “no mercy for those who are involved in these illegal activities.” Andrea Stroppa shared a thread on Twitter with updates on how Twitter has moved from being lenient toward the child abuse problem to tackling it head-on.
Stroppa spearheaded the research team at Ghost Data and found that over 500 accounts openly shared the illegal material over a 20-day period in September. You can view the full report here. In his thread, Stroppa noted that he worked as an independent researcher along Twitter’s Trust and Safety team led by Ms. Ella Irin during the past few weeks. “Twitter achieved some relevant results I want to share with you,” Stroppa tweeted.
Stroppa noted that Twitter updated its mechanism to detect content related to CSAM and that it is faster, more efficient, and more aggressive. “No mercy for those who are involved in these illegal activities.”
THANK YOU! I’m so grateful.
— 𝔈𝔩𝔦𝔷𝔞 (@elizableu) December 3, 2022
Over the past few days, Twitter’s daily suspension rate has almost doubled, which means that the platform is doing a capillary analysis of contents. “It doesn’t matter when illicit content has been published. Twitter will find it and act accordingly.”
Stroppa pointed out that within the past 24 hours, Twitter began increasing its efforts and took down 44,000 suspicious accounts, and over 1,300 of those profiles tried to bypass detection using codewords and text in images to communicate.
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He added that Twitter is aware of strategies, keywords, external URLs, and communication methods used by these accounts. “To increase its ability to protect children’s safety, Twitter involved independent and expert third parties.”
Stroppa added that Twitter is focusing its efforts on networks of Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking users that share CSAM. “Twitter continues to have teams in place dedicated to investigating and taking action on these types of violations daily. Teams are more determined than ever and composed of passionate experts. Furthermore, Twitter simplified the process of users reporting illicit content.”
In a statement to Teslarati, Stroppa said, “If these good things are happening, it’s because Elon really cares about children’s safety. With Elon, we share the idea of the light of consciousness. This light goes through millions of people and improves a bit of the world.”
Eliza Bleu, who has been pushing Twitter to protect children since before Elon Musk purchased the platform, previously emphasized that the content needed to be removed “at scale.” In August, The Verge found that Twitter was unable to detect CSAM at scale.
“Twitter cannot accurately detect child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity at scale,” the Red Team, “to pressure-test the decision to allow adult creators to monetize on the platform by specifically focusing on what it would look like for Twitter to do this safely and responsibly.”
In her own thread, Eliza Bleu said that she never thought she would be able to tweet this, but “Twitter is currently working on detecting, removing, and reporting child sexual abuse material at scale.”
She added that the issue will take time to clean up, but the rapid changes are “just beautiful to see.”
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On Saturday, Bleu told Teslarati, “While the corporate media was fear-mongering and spreading baseless conspiracy theories about Musk’s inability to tackle child sexual exploitation on Twitter with an alleged ‘skeleton crew,’ the platform was actually busy making amazing progress towards protecting sexually exploited children.”
“I’m extremely grateful to see the progress and the changes made under Elon Musk. He has accomplished in a month what the platform could not seem to do over the past decade about the issue of child sexual abuse material. The only time the platform previously made this much progress is when they implemented PhotoDNA.”
The technology Bleu is referring to was created when Microsoft partnered with Dartmouth College in 2009. PhotoDNA aids organizations in finding and removing known images of child exploitation. Bleu also called out Twitter’s advertisers that left the platform, citing Elon Musk as the reason, yet were silent on Twitter’s slowness and, at times, refusal to remove CSAM from its platform.
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Just hours after Starship Flight 13 achieved a successful soft splashdown of its upper stage in the Indian Ocean on July 24, Elon Musk announced an ambitious next step for the company’s next launch of the rocket.
“Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on [the] next flight,” the SpaceX CEO posted on X on Friday.
That “next flight” is expected to be Flight 14. The plan involves returning the Starship upper stage, commonly called the “ship,” to the Starbase launch tower in Texas and catching it mid-air using the same mechanical “chopsticks” arms that have already proven themselves with the Super Heavy booster.
Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026
A successful catch would mark the first time an orbital-class upper stage has been recovered this way, advancing SpaceX’s goal of full and rapid reusability for the entire vehicle.
SpaceX has already demonstrated the tower-catch technique multiple times with Super Heavy. The first successful catch came on Flight 5 in October 2024, when Booster 12 was plucked from the sky by the Mechazilla arms. Subsequent flights, including those involving Boosters 14 and 15, repeated the feat. Several of those recovered boosters were later inspected, refurbished, and flown again, proving the system’s viability for quick turnaround.
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Traditional reusable rockets, such as SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 or Blue Origin’s New Shepard, land on legs either on land or droneships. Rocket Lab has recovered its small Electron first stages by helicopter, but those are far lighter vehicles.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), completed a catch of its booster on July 10. They are the only entity besides SpaceX to attempt and complete the feat.
Flight 13 provided encouraging data. The ship executed a controlled reentry, flipped, and soft-landed intact in the ocean after deploying Starlink satellites, offering the first clear post-splashdown views of an undamaged heat shield. The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, experienced a harder splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Musk has previously stressed that ship catches would only follow multiple successful soft ocean landings to minimize risk of debris over land.
If Flight 14 succeeds, SpaceX would take a major stride toward routine, rapid reuse of both stages—critical for lowering launch costs and supporting ambitious plans for lunar and Mars missions. For now, teams are reviewing the Flight 13 data. Should everything check out, the next Starship flight could deliver one of the most spectacular recoveries in aerospace history.
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In a move echoing its earlier commitment to open innovation, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced recently that the company plans to make the design and software of its Model S and Model X fully open source.
This follows the same approach Tesla took with its original Roadster, releasing all available design, engineering, and diagnostic materials in November 2023 so that “whatever we have, you now have.”
Just as Tesla made the original Roadster design & software open source, we plan to do the same with Model S & X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2026
The Model S, introduced in 2012, was Tesla’s first mass-produced vehicle and a groundbreaking luxury electric sedan. It offered impressive range, rapid acceleration, and over-the-air software updates that redefined expectations for electric cars.
The Model X, launched in 2015, built on that foundation as a high-performance electric SUV notable for its distinctive falcon-wing doors, spacious interior, and advanced safety features. Both models served as flagships that helped establish Tesla as a leader in the EV industry and popularized long-range battery-electric vehicles.
Production of the Model S and Model X was wound down earlier in 2026, with manufacturing ending in the second quarter. Tesla redirected the Fremont factory space previously used for these vehicles toward higher-priority projects, including Optimus humanoid robots and the Cybercab autonomous vehicle.
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By the time of Musk’s open-source announcement, custom orders had closed and only remaining inventory was available.
Open-sourcing the designs and software offers several clear advantages. Owners of these aging but still capable vehicles gain better access to technical documentation, diagnostic tools, and software resources, making independent repairs and modifications easier and more affordable.
Independent repair shops and third-party specialists can support the large existing fleet without relying solely on Tesla’s service network. Enthusiasts and engineers can study real-world implementations of Tesla’s battery, powertrain, and software systems, potentially accelerating broader industry progress in electric mobility.
The step aligns with Tesla’s 2014 patent pledge and its overall mission to advance sustainable transport by sharing hard-won knowledge rather than locking it behind proprietary walls.
By releasing these materials now that the models have left production, Tesla ensures continued support for its early adopters while freeing internal resources for future technologies. The open-source release of the original Roadster already enabled simulations, community projects, and deeper technical understanding.
Extending that practice to the Model S and Model X should deliver similar benefits on a larger scale, helping keep these influential vehicles relevant and repairable for years to come
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Tesla flexed one incredible Robotaxi metric during the Q2 Earnings Call that skeptics have to hate to hear. The company’s platform has already driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised ride-hailing across several states with no notable incidents.
During the company’s Q2 Earnings Call on Wednesday, Vice President of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said:
“First of all, I’d like to state that the Robotaxi program has been operating extremely well. Especially in terms of safety, the program has had an impeccable safety record. We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised Robotaxi, now across six cities in two different states. We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other actors impacting us when we were stationary. I like to emphasize how safe the operation has been so far. Zero notable incidents over 380,000 miles.”
Elluswamy’s claim over Robotaxi miles is a significant milestone for Tesla in the grand scheme, especially considering this is a sizeable number of miles without any incident.
0 notable incidents across over 380,000 miles traveled by Robotaxi
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla’s self-driving approach is much different than that of other companies. Tesla has maintained that vision is the only thing needed to have a solid and effective self-driving suite. Many self-driving companies utilize things like LiDAR, sensors, and other elements to improve performance, but Elluswamy sent a jab at those who believe it’s needed.
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“Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need LiDARs, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely. Here we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras. This record should be a huge validation of Tesla’s entire AI approach.”
The feat of accumulating this many miles without any driver behind the wheel is impressive. The thing is, Tesla is also doing this across several different locations, with varying traffic rules, pedestrian levels, weather patterns, and other important factors.
While Tesla is not ready to roll out an unsupervised platform completely, it is a slow but steady indication that the company is well on its way to figuring things out.
The company’s attitude toward expansion is slow, safe, and controlled, and despite this huge milestone, it will still be some time until we see Tesla truly unleash unsupervised rides more aggressively.
SpaceX wants to catch Starship for launch 14, Elon Musk says
Tesla to open source Model S and Model X designs and software
