Microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) has updated its guidelines to reflect a new policy that will now allow users to share “consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behavior”, including AI generated content.
Previously, X (then Twitter), allowed adult content on its social networking website. People, including sex workers with OnlyFans accounts used Twitter to post such content, as per a report by The Guardian. However, there was no official policy in place regarding the safeguards for regulating this.
The new guidelines by X have now instituted safeguards such as blocking adult posts from being viewed by users under 18 or by adults who do not wish to see them. As per a post on X’s help center on June 3, users who publish adult content on their website would be required to adjust their media settings placing their images and videos behind a content warning, so that those who do not wish to view these can avoid them.
It added that failure to do so would result in a removal of their content. Users who are minors or who have not specified their date of birth would not be able to access adult content. Similar guidelines have been put in place for violent content. However, it is not clear how effectively X will be able to enforce age verification on its website.
X’s position on adult content is in contrast to that of other social media platforms such as Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, as well as video sharing platform YouTube.
Why This Matters
There have been growing concerns about the proliferation of child pornography on the internet, as well as about children accessing pornography online. Regulatory authorities of countries such as the United Kingdom, India and others have highlighted the role of social media algorithms in giving children access to harmful content such as self-harm, violence and pornography.
We had previously covered the Indian government blocking adult handles on X. Additionally, a report from the UK’s Children’s Commissioner, reported by the Sydney Herald in May 2023, found that Twitter was the site on which the greatest proportion of children had seen adult sexual content and that 13% of the content on the social networking website contained pornography. In this light, it needs to be seen whether X’s new guidelines on adult content are able to protect children from accessing such content or being exploited to create it.
What is X’s Stance on Child Pornography and Protecting Minors ?
X, on its adult content page, held that they were “balancing the freedom” of adults to post sexual content on their platform with child safety concerns by prohibiting content promoting the “exploitation, nonconsent, objectification, sexualization or harm to minors and obscene behaviors”. X also stated that it would not allow the sharing of Adult Content in highly visible places such as profile photos or banners.
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