O X, the former Twitter, has updated its rules to formally allow the posting of adult and graphic content on the platform. Although the social network already had active communities of accounts that posted explicit content, its policies had never prohibited or authorized this type of production.
With the new policy, pornography and graphically explicit content are authorized as long as they are consensually produced and properly labeled. The new rules also cover videos and images generated by artificial intelligence.
The rule change doesn’t come as a complete surprise, as X, under the direction of Elon Musk, had already experimented with formally hosting adult content.
“We believe that users should be able to create, distribute and consume material related to sexual themes, as long as it is produced and distributed consensually. Sexual expression, whether visual or written, can be a legitimate form of artistic expression. We believe in the autonomy of adults to engage and create content that reflects their own beliefs, desires and experiences, including those related to sexuality. We balance this freedom by restricting the exposure of adult content to children or adult users who choose not to view it,” states the X page on adult content policies.
X’s violent content rules follow similar guidelines, but the platform maintains that content must not be “excessively bloody or depict sexual violence.” The social network continues to ban content that explicitly threatens or incites violence.
The company’s justification for allowing graphic content is to allow people to participate in conversations about what’s happening around them, including images and videos. The platform allows users to mark their posts as containing sensitive media and does not allow users under the age of 18 or those who have not entered their birth dates on their profiles to view these posts.
These clauses could allow the creation of services focused on adult content, such as a competitor to OnlyFans, to increase their revenue. About 13% of posts on the platform in 2021 contained adult content, according to a Reuters report that cited internal company documents. Since then, adult content on X has apparently increased, especially with the proliferation of porn bots on the platform.
Now that the social network is formally allowing adult content, regulators will certainly be paying attention to X’s efforts to eliminate non-consensual pornography and child sexual abuse material. Last October, Australia fined X for failing to provide information about child abuse content, and around the same time, India notified several social networks, including X, to remove posts prohibited by law from their platforms.
*With information from Exame./ Cover photo: Disclosure/X
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