Elon Musk at TED 2017, April 28, 2017. Photo: Steve Jurvetson via Wikimedia Commons.

Dear Apple and Google, it’s time to seriously consider removing X (formerly known as Twitter) from your store.

This might seem like an extreme request — after all, X has more than 350 million monthly users — but its reach is precisely why this drastic step is necessary. Amid global levels of antisemitism not seen for decades, X allows known extremists to spread hate — and it now financially rewards them for doing so.

X’s ongoing refusal to systematically address this crisis is more than irresponsible; it clearly violates the App Store and Google Play Store’s terms of service.

Both marketplaces’ rules prohibit apps that incite hatred or violence against groups or individuals based on baseline protected characteristics of “race or ethnic origin, religion, … sexual orientation, gender, gender identity,” or any other characteristic that is repeatedly targeted for discrimination or marginalization.

There is a special exception to this rule for apps that are based on User Generated Content (UGC), like X and most social media platforms.

They do not receive blanket immunity, however. Google stipulates that UGC-based apps must “Provide safeguards to prevent in-app monetization from encouraging objectionable user behaviour,” and offer an in-app system for blocking and reporting objectionable content and users. Apple’s terms require such apps to provide in-app ability to filter for offensive content, receive reports, respond in a timely manner, and block abusive users.

Elon Musk recently mused about removing the “block” feature from X, which would constitute a clear violation of both marketplaces’ terms.

Regarding antisemitism, however, X has also failed to enforce its own content policies so egregiously that it cannot be said to have functional safeguards.

My firm CyberWell’s research has shown that just 14% of reported antisemitic content on X is removed, down from 28% in the year preceding Musk’s purchase. This only serves to discourage future reporting; would you keep calling 911 if you knew you’d only get help once every seventh call? It’s no wonder that according to our research, X hosts more Holocaust denial than any other major platform we study.

But even if the state of open Jew-hatred on the platform isn’t enough to merit delisting from the major app marketplaces, X’s new monetization system rewards racists in direct violation of Google’s terms. X’s ad revenue has dropped by a massive amount since Musk’s purchase, and the app has now employed ill-advised tactics in attempts to make up the shortfall.

Blue checks were once awarded to verified accounts to prevent imposters and make high-quality accounts easier to find. They are now sold for eight dollars a month to users who wish to monetize their content.

Along with the check mark, “X Premium” users receive a portion of the ad revenue their content generates, but X doesn’t vet the accounts. Unsurprisingly, antisemites have taken full advantage of the opportunity to profit from their hate.

One right-wing extremist and blue check user with more than 60,000 followers, whose account is littered with anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, openly tweeted about being paid to spread “red-pill” misinformation to the masses while recently promoting the #BantheADL campaign.

“X has made it possible to actually make money triggering and trolling people,” he wrote. “Keep that in mind when engagement gets low.”

The CEO of Gab, a social media platform that the ADL says is home to a thriving extremist hate-mongering community, is an X Premium user who commemorated the anniversary of 9/11 by tweeting a litany of antisemitic conspiracies to his 374,000 followers.

The ability to monetize and incentivize hatred isn’t just dangerous for Jews; it’s also a hazard for companies who don’t want to accidentally promote bigotry through their ads. A recent CNN investigation verified that major brands including Adobe and Gilead Sciences had unwittingly advertised on an X Premium account promoting Nazism, prompting Gilead and another advertiser to immediately pause ad spending on the platform.

Brand safety concerns will continue to hurt X financially until it seriously commits to addressing these issues, yet we have seen no appreciable improvement in their approach to content moderation. X recently released a blog post outlining its “ongoing commitment to combat antisemitism,” which provided no concrete information or new steps.

Even the platform’s latest safety feature, community notes, has been weaponized against the Jewish community. On the anniversary of the lynching of Leo Frank, a community note falsely claimed that Frank was guilty and deserved to be murdered, even connecting him to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. As far as I know, X chose not to comment on the incident.

Google and Apple, I urge you to conduct a thorough investigation into X’s potential noncompliance with your terms of service, and remove the app from the store should it fail to meet your standards. Please do not turn a blind eye to a platform that both tolerates and incentivizes the dissemination of hatred to millions of users — we cannot afford the consequences.

Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, is an American Israeli and the founder and CEO of CyberWell — the world’s first open database dedicated to fighting online antisemitism across social media platforms, available at app.cyberwell.org.