
Head of Safety at @X.
San Francisco, CA
Joined July 2008
- Tweets9.6K
- Following522
- Followers15.9K
- Likes17.3K
Michael O'Herlihy retweeted
People come to X to talk about what's happening in the world, including the upcoming 2026 US midterms. Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and we are proud that X is the global town square where these debates happen. Our job is to keep that conversation authentic, open, and safe.
To ensure these fundamental values are protected during elections, our Safety team uses a variety of detection methods to proactively find and act on activity that breaks the X Rules. These measures build on the safety protections we run 24/7, year-round. X's Authenticity Policy is particularly important to this work. Whether it is spam networks or entities engaged in influence operations, we are actively working to identify and stop coordinated inauthentic behavior that undermines the integrity of our platform.
Through proactive sweeps and investigations, X recently identified and suspended more than 13,000 accounts involved in three suspected foreign influence operations linked to Iran, Russia, and China that targeted US political conversation. The networks used inauthentic accounts to post and amplify content about US politics, targeting candidates and public figures across the political spectrum.
X's Civic Integrity policy addresses misleading content that could affect participation in elections or other civic processes. This includes content that may confuse people about how, when, or where to participate, or that aims to discourage participation. X relies on Community Notes, which let people add context and credible sources, alongside platform moderation. Users can report content under "Civic Integrity" in our in-app reporting flow, and their submission will be routed to request a Community Note, a collaborative way to add helpful context to posts and keep people better informed. Additionally, in critical escalations, X may apply a Civic Integrity label to posts that violate our policy.
We remain committed to X as a global town square where people openly debate topics of public interest and engage with election-related information. Our work continues through Election Day and beyond.
See our Civic Integrity Policy for more information:
help.x.com/en/rules-and-poli…
Michael O'Herlihy retweeted
I’m back.
I want to thank everyone who spoke up on my behalf, I am truly blown away by the support I received.
I also want to thank the X team who entered into a thoughtful discussion with me about content and their decision-making process.
I have given my feedback to their team and it was well received.
It is incredibly important that we are allowed to share news, no matter how awful, sad, or infuriating that news may be.
I will not stop reporting on violent crime and making sure victims receive justice.
Too often, certain crimes receive far too little attention because of the race of the attacker and/or the race of the victim.
X is a place where stories can get out into the open that the mainstream media ignores due to their biases.
I saw it first-hand during Hurricane Helene 2 years ago when the media left early and I was one of the few left reporting on the aftermath, months later.
X is the most important platform on earth because it is the most free platform on earth.
Do not stop sharing stories you feel deserve to be heard, I certaintly won’t be stopping.
You have a voice and you can, and do, make real world change by using it.
Don’t stop.
Thank you all.
Michael O'Herlihy retweeted
Last week, @X sued several people who abused Creator Revenue Sharing by operating a coordinated network of accounts, posting inauthentic content to manipulate engagement, and using multiple bank accounts to hide their scheme.
We do not tolerate fraudulent behavior on X -- and will act forcefully to protect our platform and the earnings of genuine creators.
You can read our lawsuit here: transparency.x.com/assets/le…
We take seriously our responsibility to protect minors. X has zero tolerance for CSAM, including AI-generated CSAM. As an industry leader, we actively report and block users who violate our Terms of Service, which absolutely prohibit all forms of child sexual exploitation, including posting or engaging with child sexual abuse material. So far this year, we have reported 1.3 million cases to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Additionally, we employ industry-leading tools and processes to protect minors, including:
- We scan media against known-CSAM hash libraries (including hashes from NCMEC and partners such as IWF) using industry tools such as PhotoDNA alongside proprietary detection. We run models at post-creation time (LLMs and custom classifiers, legal/policy-reviewed) and conduct manual Child Safety operations reviews to catch CSE/CSAM that isn’t already in a hash set. We also run proactive keyword and media sweeps, plus heuristics that are partially or fully automated, when signals indicate possible CSAM.
- Apparent CSAM leads to removal, and we have permanently suspended over 780,000 users in the past month alone, with ban-evasion controls. Whenever we become aware of apparent CSAM (including AI-generated CSAM), we report it to NCMEC. AI-generated CSAM is enforced under the same Child Sexual Exploitation policy as non-generative CSAM. We also continuously improve hash coverage, classifiers, and review workflows because this threat is ever evolving and highly adversarial.
- We have also brought and will, if necessary, continue to bring lawsuits against users who have intentionally circumvented safeguards to generate this despicable content. In the first half of 2026 alone, X Corp made more than 1.3 million reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, resulting at least 543 arrests
- Finally, we are an active member of the Tech Coalition, an alliance of global tech companies who are working together to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse online. Tech Coalition is an invaluable resource to understand the best practices and new approaches used across the industry to detect and prevent the sharing of CSAM. It allows member companies to share best practices, challenges and new insights that ensure that we are up-to-date when it comes to trends related to these high severity violations.
Glad to be back at X as Head of Safety.
Focus: keep people safe across our products and AI systems, protect free expression, and make Safety more transparent.
Long-time admirer of the Cursor team, few have done more to bring AI coding to the world.
Excited to continue to partner with them.
Michael O'Herlihy retweeted
Cursor has been a trusted partner of Anthropic since Sonnet 3.5. We’ll continue to increase compute to support Claude models in Cursor and are excited for what comes next with them at SpaceX.
Michael O'Herlihy retweeted
Cursor is now part of @SpaceX.
Today, we have officially closed our acquisition. We will join the @spacexai team to help make Grok the world's most useful AI and improve Grok Build, Grok Bot, Grok API, Cursor, and more.
SpaceX has built some of the most inspiring and impressive technology in the world, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to become part of such a special company. Onwards.
I asked @openclaw for some song recommendations. Instead of giving me a list, it replied:
"Done. Kitchen Sonos is playing “Hot N Cold (Rock Version)” at volume 35.
That should do the job. Go be dangerous."
It was kind of the @icc to have some exhibition games to surround the two game India versus Pakistan series. #ExpandingTheGame
ICC have revamped the format of its marquee men's events to enhance competitive structure and elevate sporting standards.
icc-cricket.com/news/icc-rev…
Was disappointed by the reaction of @prendergastorla to being given out … then I watched the replay and realize it was an under reaction. Shocking decision. #IreVWI
Huge upset in the household chart: @katyperry way out in front with 72 plays, @taylorswift13 in pursuit. I may have to put my finger on the scale and hide certain songs, or people might hear me Roar. #DIYJukeBox
Does Vaibhav Sooryavanshi have any long lost Irish grandparents? We would keep him in the team and let him do his magic.
Sooryavanchi is playing a different sport. It looks like he is playing stick cricket. It’s incredible. #EngVInd
An incredible performance by Cape Verde. Such an inspirational story, and a highlight of the World Cup. #FifaWorldCup
That is the best goal and best celebration I have ever seen. #TeamCapeVerde #FifaWorldCup
That celebration gave me flashbacks to when Felipe Contepomi scored a try, and jumped the boards found a seat and started applauding himself.
We identify as the world champions. #IrelandCricket @cricketireland
Great to see some 🇮🇪 fans in the stands during the Unicorns v Freedom
@APSportsNews_ with the 🎙️
#MLC2026 #MajorLeagueCricket














