Elon Musk’s X now officially allows pornographic content on its platform, but has said it will block adult and violent posts for users under the age of 18 or who have not given permission to view them.
The company announced new policies on Monday that formally dictate what can be viewed on the platform.
These measures come as regulators around the world come under increasing pressure on platforms to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content on social media.
Historically, X (formerly Twitter) has not banned the posting of adult content on its platform, and sex workers who use subscription services such as OnlyFans have used X to promote their work for years.
Users who post adult content, including nudity or suggestive or explicit sexual activity, X asks a question Adjust your media settings to display content warnings before viewing images or videos. Users under the age of 18 or who have not entered their date of birth in their profile will not be able to view this content.
X suggested it would detect what users posted and said it would “adjust account settings” if users did not properly mark pornographic posts.
Similar rules have been enacted. Violent content Contains violent speech or media, including anything that threatens, incites, glorifies or expresses a desire for violence or harm.
Teenagers report that they are more likely to view pornographic material on X than on adult sites. A survey conducted by the UK Children’s Commissioner in January 2023 found that 41% of teenagers aged 16-18 reported viewing pornography on X, compared to 37% on adult-only sites.
Last week, Australia’s online safety regulator Julie Inman Grant alleged that Apple and Google were financially motivated to keep both the X and Reddit apps on their app stores despite them featuring adult content, which she said violated the policies of both app stores.
“Right now there are huge disincentives for app stores to actually follow their own guidelines. [policies],” she said.
“They collect a 30% tithe on every transaction that takes place on social media sites… Think of the power multiplier of removing you from the app’s platform and what that would mean to their revenue.”
Under Apple’s developer guidelines, user-created apps that contain primarily pornographic content may be removed, but user-created apps that contain adult content that is hidden by default may still be visible. X’s new policy will likely align with Apple’s guidelines.
X is also embroiled in a legal battle with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner over violent content, after eSafety ordered him to remove 65 tweets containing footage of the stabbing death of a Sydney bishop in April. The case is due to be heard in the Federal Court at the end of June.
X has blocked Tweets from being viewed by Australian users when they visit the site, but eSafety has argued in recent court documents that X should also block Australian users from accessing Tweets via virtual private network connections.
