Social network X (formerly Twitter) has long had many active communities with explicit content (NSFW, not safe for work). Although the platform has previously unofficially allowed people to publish adult contentIts rules have never explicitly prohibited or permitted such content.
Over the weekend, X Twitter added to its rules regulations that officially allow users to publish adult content, including graphic content, on the platform — with a few caveats. Consensual NSFW content can be published if it is prominently labeled as such. The new rules also apply to videos and images created by artificial intelligence. The rule change is not a complete surprise, as X, under the leadership of Elon Musk, has already experimented with officially posting «strawberries» in NSFW communities.
«We believe that users should be able to create, distribute, and consume sexually explicit material as long as it is produced and distributed with consent. Sexual expression, whether visual or written, can be a legitimate form of artistic expression. We believe in the autonomy of adults to engage with and create content that reflects their own beliefs, desires and experiences, including those related to sexuality. We balance this freedom by restricting access to adult content to children or adult users who choose not to see it», — says the X Adult Content help page.
X’s violent content rules also have similar guidelines, but X states that content should not be «excessively gory or depict sexual violence». The platform continues to ban content that explicitly threatens or promotes violence.
X has never actually banned porn, but these provisions could allow it to build services around adult content. Competing with services like OnlyFans could help increase revenues.
According to the report Reuters 2022, which cited internal company documents, about 13% of posts on the platform had adult content. Since then, the amount of adult content on X has obviously increased, and porn bots have proliferated on the platform.
Now that the social network has officially allowed adult content, regulators should keep a closer eye on X and its efforts to eliminate unauthorized porn. Last October, Australia fined X for not providing information about child abuse content. Around the same time, India addressed to several social networks, including X, demanding that such messages be removed.
Source: TechCrunch