Overview
- X, which expanded its Under The Hood tool on Monday, now flags when an account or post was downranked or withheld because the company complied with a country’s legal demand.
- Qualifying users who posted at least 10 times in the relevant month can download an Under The Hood JSON that lists which posts were withheld and names the country that made each request.
- The update builds on X’s August transparency work and earlier open-sourcing of parts of its ranking system, adding per-account and per-post detail to the platform’s prior aggregate reports.
- Free-expression groups and observers note limits: the file does not necessarily include the specific law, agency or order text and may conflict with secrecy rules in some countries, such as India.
- For users, the disclosure will clarify some causes of lower reach, but many visibility drops will still stem from algorithmic ranking, moderation labels or other non-government reasons and may require tools or help to interpret the JSON.