There seems to be some chaos surrounding an incident involving Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman. He has strongly denied watching adult content while flying and directed blame toward the algorithms that allegedly showed him explicit images after a photo went viral.
The stir began when a photo surfaced showing Sherman looking at inappropriate images on his iPad. The original post, shared by the Twitter account “Dear White Staffers,” described his actions as “watching pornography” during the flight.
The controversial image garnered over 13.7 million views within 24 hours, raising eyebrows across social media.
In a statement on Saturday, Sherman pointed fingers at Elon Musk, claiming that changes Musk made to Twitter’s algorithm resulted in unexpected and suggestive content appearing in his feed. “This was just scrolling through Twitter. Unfortunately, Elon Musk messed with Twitter’s algorithm that served up content people didn’t ask for or subscribe to,” a representative for Sherman relayed.
Sherman, a Los Angeles representative who previously filed impeachment articles against Trump in 2017, shared that the provocative images appeared in his ‘For You’ feed while he was traveling. He maintained throughout the discussion that he has never engaged with pornography.
“If you’re flying cross-country, you’re going to find yourself browsing a lot on your tablet,” he remarked. He estimated seeing over a thousand posts and suggested that it’s natural to linger on any image that catches your eye, even if it’s just a moment longer than admiring a sunset.
Three photos displayed on his tablet depicted women in minimal clothing. Some posed playfully, their tongues out, while none were fully nude, yet the images shared on his feed were undeniably risqué.
When questioned about the appropriateness of such content being accessible on a plane, Sherman responded, “Is it pornographic? I don’t think Elon Musk thinks so. Is it appropriate? No.”
