LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk's social media platform X has pledged to crack down on hate and terrorist content in Britain, the country's media regulator said Friday.
Ofcom said X's public commitments include restricting access in the U.K. to accounts operated by or on behalf of terrorist groups that the country has banned.
The platform also promised to review suspected illegal terrorist and hate content within 24 hours on average, and to assess 85% of the material no more than 48 hours after users have flagged it, officials said.
A spokesperson for X in the U.K. did not respond to a request for comment.
In response to concerns from some civil society groups that X failed to follow up after illegal content was flagged by users, X will engage with experts on how to improve its reporting systems, Ofcom said. X will submit quarterly performance data over a 12-month period so the regular can compare its performance against these targets.
The regulator said there's evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech is “persisting” on social media sites and that it expects tech companies to take “firm action.”
“This is of particular importance in the U.K. following a number of recent hate motivated crimes suffered by the country’s Jewish community,” Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom's online safety group, said.
Britain’s Jewish community, which numbers about 300,000 people, has faced growing attacks online and in the streets, including a string of arson attacks and a double stabbing that have sparked fear and anger among Jews.
X and Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok faced intensifying global scrutiny earlier this year over after Grok, which can be accessed through X, pumped out nonconsensual deepfake images.
Ofcom responded by launching an investigation into whether Grok failed to protect users from illegal content, which Griffiths said was ongoing.
The Grok controversy also resulted in European Union regulators targeting X over whether it has done enough to contain the spread of illegal content. French prosecutors, meanwhile, sought charges last week against Musk and X including denial of crimes against humanity.
FILE - Elon Musk attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to build an exhibit of statues featuring prominent Americans in a tightly regulated park along the Potomac River, potentially opening a new legal fight over whether his administration is ignoring the approvals process that typically governs Washington's monumental core as he muscles through a dramatic overhaul of the nation's capital.
In a Friday morning social media post, Trump said the National Garden of American Heroes would be built in West Potomac Park, a space near the National Mall that includes the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The area is also home to several fields and volleyball courts regularly used by local sports groups.
Trump described the area in his post as a “totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate along our Mighty Potomac River.”
The president has said the garden would commemorate America's 250th anniversary with sculptures recognizing 250 prominent Americans who have made significant cultural, political and other historical contributions to the country. He first raised the idea during Fourth of July celebrations in 2020 and has framed it as a response to protests that resulted in the removal of controversial monuments, including those that commemorated slave owners and Confederate leaders.
In the final days of his first term, Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order naming 244 people including Ronald Reagan and Jackie Robinson who should be honored with statues in the garden. The idea languished under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but Congress provided $40 million under Trump's big tax and spending cuts law last year to procure the statues included in his executive orders.
That may not be enough, however, to constitute the type of approval typically needed for major projects on or near the National Mall. Federal law requires projects and memorials to get a sign-off from multiple design and planning groups.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the garden will “ be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism.”
“President Trump continues to beautify and honor our Nation’s Capital during America’s historic semiquincentennial celebration,” he said.
He didn't comment on whether the administration was seeking the relevant approvals or had already awarded contracts for the statues.
Washington's monumental core is one of the nation's most closely regulated spaces, with the goal of protecting sight lines and preventing new construction that would undermine the area's history. Between the approvals process, design disputes and funding challenges, changes in the area can take years — or even decades — to reach completion. One of the newest additions near the National Mall, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, took 21 years to finish after Congress initially approved it in 1999.
Trump and his supporters have shown little interest in following such procedures. He moved quickly this month to drain and repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He suddenly demolished the East Wing of the White House last year to build a ballroom. Trump's name has been added to the facade of the Kennedy Center, which he plans to close later this summer for a two-year renovation.
Just this week, workers began preliminary surveys and testing of the proposed site of a triumphal arch Trump is seeking between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. Part of the site was fenced off, and pink flags typically used as survey markings were planted in the grass.
And the Trump administration is moving forward with plans to transform East Potomac Park from an accessible public golf course into what Trump has described as a “U.S. Open-caliber course.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday released a design plan for the new course that he said would provide “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.”
The plan provided few details on how open the park, which is frequently used by local runners and bikers, would remain to the general public.
Virtually all of the projects have become subject to litigation.
Workers apply a blue protective coating as part of a renovation project to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
The Washington Monument stands in the background as a golfer walks the East Potomac Golf Course, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks as he visits the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to see the new blue protective coating being applied as part of a renovation project, Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Washington, as White House boarder czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin listen. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
