X is expanding its transparency tools to tell users when their posts or accounts have been shown to fewer people because the platform is complying with local laws. The update extends its existing “Under the Hood” feature, which already reveals labels and other moderation actions that may affect a user’s visibility.
The change gives users more detail than conventional transparency reports, which usually publish government requests in aggregate. X will now identify when government-required filtering affected a specific account or post, including which posts were withheld within a country and which country made the legal request.
Under the Hood Shows Why Reach Was Limited
X introduced Under the Hood in August as part of a broader effort to make its ranking and moderation systems more visible. Users who have posted at least 10 times during the previous month can download a JSON file containing information about labels applied to their account and posts.
That file will now include restrictions resulting from local legal requirements. This could help distinguish between reach reductions caused by X’s own moderation systems and those applied because the company received a legal demand in a particular country.
Government requests can arise from different national laws covering areas such as prohibited speech, terrorism-related material or election content. How those laws are written and enforced varies by jurisdiction, and free-expression organizations have criticized some governments for using content restrictions against political dissent.
X Has Been Opening More of Its Ranking System
The update follows X’s decision to release more of the code behind its “For You” recommendation system. The published material includes parts of its ranking, filtering and scoring systems, giving outside developers greater visibility into how different signals can influence which posts appear in feeds.
X vice president of product Keith Coleman said at the time that the release included systems used to retrieve, rank and filter posts. Under the Hood complements that technical transparency by giving individual users information about how those systems affected their own content.
The latest update does not prevent X from complying with valid legal demands. Instead, it gives affected users a clearer record when those demands result in their posts being withheld or distributed less widely in specific countries.
Featured image credits: ABS-CBN
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