X-ploitation: How X Became a Crossroads for Child Abuse and Influence Operations
By Saman Nazari, Claudia De Sessa and Joel Haglund
Documented "Operation X-ploitation," a network of 150+ automated accounts distributing child sexual abuse material on X via hashtag flooding and bot engagement, exploiting the same weaknesses (minimal account-creation barriers, weak moderation) used by Russian influence campaigns like Doppelganger. X’s age-verification and suspensions did not fix the underlying design flaws.
Executive summary
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Between July and August 2025, Alliance4Europe researchers documented Operation X-ploitation, a coordinated network of automated accounts systematically distributing child sexual abuse material on X while amplifying content through bot-driven engagement. The investigation found over 150 accounts using hashtag flooding, automated commenting and redirection links to external monetisation platforms. Critically, the operation exploited the same vulnerabilities leveraged by Russian influence campaigns such as Doppelganger — X’s minimal account-creation barriers and inadequate moderation. Despite age-verification restrictions and suspensions from late July, the underlying design flaws remained, letting the operation resume at reduced scale; the researchers frame this as a systemic risk under DSA Articles 34-35.
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