X has for the first time ‘officially’ acknowledged that it allows consensual porn on the social media platform, and has announced that adult content needs to be flagged with a content warning by the person posting it.
Porn has been allowed on X since its launch, in 2006 as Twitter, but the platform hadn’t previously clarified its adult content policies with regard to porn with such clarity. The new acknowledgement comes after reports about the amount of porn on the platform, often appearing to come from potential bot accounts and being posted unsolicited in post replies, have increased.
As per the new rule clarification, porn on X must be hidden by a content warning that needs to be clicked through to access the post. Users who regularly post porn or other adult content must apply a content warning click-through to their entire profile, with X warning that those who do not apply this will have it forced on their profile.
Currently X users can only mark posts with ‘nudity,’ ‘violence’ and ‘sensitive’ content warnings. X suggested that a new ‘adult content’-related tag may appear soon, saying: “You may begin to see new media content warnings on posts that X has designated as containing Adult Content (instead of a generic sensitive media label).”
X defines adult content as “consensually produced and distributed material depicting adult nudity or sexual behavior that is pornographic or intended to cause sexual arousal”. This includes AI-generated and animated content such as hentai and cartoons.
Adult content promoting “exploitation, non-consent, objectification, sexualization or harm to minors, and obscene behaviors” remains banned on X. Users will also not be able to post adult content in prominent positions such as profile photo and banner spots.
By allowing porn on the platform, and now properly acknowledging it, X is an outlier of sorts among social media platforms. Meta’s platforms Facebook and Instagram do not allow porn or nudity, have stringent policies to crack down on it, and have largely set an anti-adult content tone that has spread across mainstream social media.
X said: “We believe that users should be able to create, distribute, and consume material related to sexual themes as long as it is consensually produced and distributed. Sexual expression, whether visual or written, can be a legitimate form of artistic expression.”
A quick search of X on June 7 suggested that a great deal of porn still isn’t being tagged as sensitive content, or hidden behind click-through barriers. X said that users under the age of 18 will not be able to view content marked as adult material, but it’s relatively easy to set up an account on the site and use a fake birth date. If porn isn’t being flagged in the first place, though, it remains accessible to all without workarounds.
Bot accounts have long been a cause for complaint among X users. Since Elon Musk acquired the platform in 2022, complaints about potential bot accounts posting porn, and ‘liking’ posts, became increasingly common. This month X changed its functionality so it’s not possible for users to see which posts other users have ‘liked’.
After becoming the new head of X, Musk sacked swathes of the platform’s workforce, leading to accusations that post moderation and bot crackdowns were suffering. Earlier this year NPR ran an investigation titled, ‘How the Porn Bots Took Over Twitter‘.
Still, the new porn acknowledgement may be welcomed by many online sex workers and porn creators, who often struggle to use social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram for promotion, due to their policies. In 2023, X opened its paywall subscription function to all users, allowing people to sell access to adult content directly on the platform.
X said: “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.”
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