Elon Musk’s social networking platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, has updated its usage policies to allow the posting of adult and graphic content on its platform.
The new policy, introduced over the weekend, permits users to post consensually produced NSFW (not safe for work) content, including AI-generated videos and images, provided it is clearly labelled.
“You may share consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behaviour, provided it’s properly labelled and not prominently displayed,” X announced in a statement titled “Adult Content,” published in May 2024.
According to X, adult content is any consensually produced and distributed material depicting adult nudity or sexual behaviour that is pornographic or intended to cause sexual arousal.
“This also applies to AI-generated, photographic, or animated content such as cartoons, hentai, or anime. Examples include depictions of full or partial nudity, including close-ups of genitals, buttocks, or breasts; explicit or implied sexual behaviour or simulated acts such as sexual intercourse and other sexual acts,” it added.
The social media giant said it believes that users should be able to create, distribute, and consume material related to sexual themes as long as it is consensually produced and distributed.
It added that sexual expression, whether visual or written, can be a legitimate form of artistic expression, stating, “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 exposure to Adult Content for children or adult users who choose not to see it.”
X, however, noted that it also prohibits content promoting exploitation, nonconsent, objectification, sexualization, or harm to minors, and obscene behaviours. It also does not allow sharing Adult Content in highly visible places, such as profile photos or banners.
These latest developments by X to formally allow adult content “dovetail well with the company’s post-Musk marketing strategy,” according to Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor of communication at Cornell University.
Duffy noted that “X is unapologetically provocative and has sought to distinguish itself from ‘brand-safe’ competitors” like Meta, YouTube, and TikTok.
With X’s recent policy update, she says, “The company seems to be courting those workers — including creators and artists — who have been marginalised by platform guidelines that tend to restrict nudity or sexual expression.”
Before Musk took over, Twitter had already allowed pornography. The company estimated that 13% of all posts on the platform contained adult content, Reuters reported in October 2022, just before the official close of Musk’s debt-laden deal for Twitter.
To comply with the new rules, X also encourages users who frequently post adult content to adjust their media settings to place all images and videos behind a content warning.
“Doing so places all your images and videos behind a content warning that needs to be acknowledged before your media can be viewed,” it added.
“You can also add a one-time content warning on individual posts. If you continue to fail marking your posts, we will adjust your account settings for you.”
Users under 18 or viewers who do not include a birth date on their profile cannot click to view marked content. Learn more about age-restricted content here, the new policy states and adds that users may also begin to see new media content warnings on posts that X has designated as containing adult content (instead of a generic, sensitive media label).
“When these new content warnings are available for you to use, please be sure to continue marking your media accordingly.”
X also announced that users can report unmarked adult content or other violations through the app’s reporting features, and appeals can be made if users believe an error has been made in the enforcement of these policies.
