The CEO of X said Thursday that the social media platform formerly known as Twitter has removed or labeled tens of thousands of pieces of content since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Saturday. 

Linda Yaccarino also said X has identified and removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts. 

Word of X’s actions, disclosed in a letter from Yaccarino to European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton, follow multiple reports about war-related misinformation spreading on the platform.

Yaccarino said X, shortly after learning of Hamas’ attacks on Israel, assembled a leadership group to assess the situation. 

“In crisis situations, X’s unique purpose to serve the public conversation; access and share information, raise awareness about the situations they are in and on the ground, and openly and freely exchange on issues becomes all the more critical,” she wrote. 

But, Yaccarino said, the company “understands the importance of addressing any illegal content that may be disseminated through the platform.”

“There is no place on X for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time, including proactive efforts,” she wrote.

Yaccarino was responding to a letter Wednesday from Breton to X owner Elon Musk, in which Breton said the EU had “indications that your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation” in Europe.

He urged Musk to respond within 24 hours and warned of a potential investigation and fines for non-compliance. Breton wrote a similar letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Among the reports of misinformation on X since the war erupted Saturday:

Researchers with Alethea, a firm that detects disinformation and social media manipulation, said they uncovered a propaganda network of 67 accounts posting false and misleading information about the conflict. 

The liberal advocacy group Media Matters found that since Saturday, subscribers to X’s premium service shared at least six misleading videos about the war. This included out-of-context videos and old ones purporting to be recent — that earned millions of views.

Social media users shared a fake White House news release last weekend claiming the U.S. was sending $8 billion in aid to Israel. 

An account impersonating the Jerusalem Post shared a story Saturday saying Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hospitalized.

Musk himself recommended Sunday his 150 million followers turn to two X accounts with a history of spreading false information for news about the war. He called the sources “good” before later deleting his post.

Experts say that under Musk the platform has deteriorated to the point that it’s not just failing to clamp down on misinformation but is favoring posts by accounts that pay for its blue-check subscription service, regardless of who runs them.

If such posts go viral, their blue-checked creators can be eligible for payments from X, creating a financial incentive to post whatever gets the most reaction — including misinformation.

Ian Bremmer, a prominent foreign policy expert, posted on X that the level of disinformation on the Israel-Hamas war “being algorithmically promoted” on the platform “is unlike anything I’ve ever been exposed to in my career as a political scientist.”

While Musk’s social media site is awash in chaos, rivals such as TikTok, YouTube and Facebook are also coping with a flood of unsubstantiated rumors and falsehoods about the conflict, playing the usual whack-a-mole that emerges every time a news event captivates the world’s attention.

“People are desperate for information and social media context may actively interfere with people’s ability to distinguish fact from fiction,” said Gordon Pennycook, an associate professor of psychology at Cornell University who studies misinformation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.