Under the leadership of Elon Musk, social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, will now officially allow pornographic material on its platform.
X has never censored adult content, nor has the platform ever advertised a clear policy regarding NSFW content.
“There is no such thing as ethical pornography. It’s all exploitative and destructive on both an individual and societal level.”
But recently, new policies have changed that.
policy read:
We believe that users should be able to create, distribute and consume material related to sexual themes, so long as it is produced and distributed consensually. Visual or written sexual imagery can be a legitimate form of artistic expression. We believe that adults have the autonomy to engage with and create content that reflects their own beliefs, desires and experiences, including those related to sexual orientation.
Moreover, X argues that it “balances the freedom” to host adult content by limiting children’s exposure to adult material.
But the policy doesn’t say how X does that. The policy explains that “users under the age of 18, or viewers who don’t have their date of birth listed in their profile, will not be able to click on or view the marked content.”
But how does the platform Actual age User’s?
Under the current policy, underage teenagers can lie about their age to access adult content on X. The policy and lack of safeguards have drawn criticism.
“Distinction without difference”
The National Center for Sexual Exploitation said in a statement that it believes the policy does nothing to protect minors from adult content.
“X’s new “policy” is a distinction without a difference.” Said Dawn Hawkins, CEO of NCOSE.
“By simply allowing pornography on its platform, X is already allowing the proliferation of illegal non-consensual content, including child sexual abuse material, sex trafficking and other sexually abusive content. Users do not mark their content as ‘sensitive’ and X has no intention of policing non-consensual content. ‘Requireing’ users to label content as pornography is a lazy way for X to continue to avoid responsibility for perpetuating sexual abuse,” Hawkins explained.
Furthermore, NCOSE believes that X’s policies “will not prevent image-based sexual abuse from continuing to thrive on the platform.”
“Necessarily, all technology platforms that allow X or pornography will need to implement meaningful age and consent verification for everyone appearing in those images and videos, or image-based sexual abuse and child sexual abuse will continue to thrive,” Hawkins added.
Human friendly?
There are Humanism is a central tenet Musk’s view of the world.
but, Blaze TV host Allie Beth StuckeyX’s adult content policy runs counter to his values of respect for people.
“If Elon Musk was as humane as he claims to be, he would do everything in his power to ban porn from X,” she told Blaze News. “There is no such thing as ethical porn. Porn is exploitative and destructive on both an individual and societal level.”
Is it a free speech issue?
Blaze TV presenter Steve Dees He said the policy was a “trade-off” for the beneficial free speech impacts of Elon Musk’s ownership interests.
“Musk sees himself as a free speech absolutist, and that’s been a pretty good advantage for us since he bought X, but it’s a trade-off,” Deess told Blaze News.
“This also requires a debate about whether pornography is free speech. When someone receives money for sex it’s called prostitution and it’s a crime, so how is filming it free speech?” he asked.
Deese also warned that X’s policy “circumvents states that have laws requiring age verification to access pornographic sites.”
Invalidation
Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Said He has disabled his personal account and his SEBTS X account due to the new X policy.
“It should not be surprising that the world acts according to the sinful system of this world, but that does not mean Christians should be complicit or stand by and watch,” Akin said.
“I intend to distance myself from X’s immoral and offensive content and will be deactivating my personal account tomorrow,” he explained.
What’s the problem?
Blaze News reported that there is growing concern that pornography is harmful and exploitative.
“This is not a free speech issue,” Texas neurosurgeon Donald Hilton, MD, told Blaze News.
“The porn industry and its apologists will say, ‘Yes, we don’t want children to be exposed to porn, but this law interferes with the free speech of consenting adults,'” he explained. “So they’re saying, ‘Until we can find a system that protects children but doesn’t hurt adults, we must continue to maintain a system that hurts children.’ In other words, they want to continue to hurt children.”
“Unless we can find a way for consenting adults to fully protect children first, we should be pushing in that direction, not the other way around,” he said.
Dr. Gail Dines, a progressive feminist and anti-pornography scholar, believes that the toxicity of pornography threatens society.
“We need a national debate, with governments on board,” she told The Blaze News. “Is this the culture we want to live in? Do we want our children to be exposed to this? Do we want grown men to be exposed to this, knowing the effects?”
“What is at stake is the well-being of future generations. What is at stake is the increase in levels of violence against women and children, sexual violence,” she added. “Indeed, the very essence of society is at stake.”
In other words, X’s policy normalizes access to pornography, exposing more people to adult material who might not have sought it out otherwise.
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