If you have noticed an increase in adult or unsuitable for work (NSFW) content on X/Twitter, there’s a reason. As the social media platform recently tweaked its rules that allow for porn and other adult-themed content to be shared on X/Twitter.
We have launched Adult Content and Violent Content policies to bring more clarity of our Rules and transparency into enforcement of these areas. These policies replace our former Sensitive Media and Violent Speech policies – but what we enforce against hasn’t changed.
Adult…
— Safety (@Safety) June 3, 2024
Spotted first by TechCrunch, X/Twitter’s guidelines have been updated to reflect the new policy that will allow users to “share consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behavior.” Under these new guidelines, users can share porn and other adult-typed content, but not in “obvious places,” like profile pictures or banners, according to X/Twitter’s Adult Content section on its guidelines page.
X/Twitter advises those who will “regularly post adult content” on its platform to adjust their media settings to allow content warnings to be placed on images and videos before other users can view them. Adding this disclaimer will also help prevent minors or those who did not include a birth date on their profile from viewing the marked content.
“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,” X/Twitter’s new guidelines on Adult Content reads, “Sexual expression, whether visual or written, can be a legitimate form of artistic expression. 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.”
X/Twitter embracing NSFW on its platform is a long time coming. In addition to the growing number of sex workers who began to congregate on X/Twitter after the relaunch of Twitter Blue, TechCrunch reported in March that X/Twitter was planning to allow NSFW communities to apply for an “Adult Content” label on its platform to prevent those communities from getting filled.
The move is reminiscent of Tumblr, which was once a popular website for people to post adult content before banning the content in 2018. However, its community guidelines were somewhat tweaked in 2022 to allow nudity but no imagery that was considered sexually explicit.
In any case, NSFW content on X/Twitter comes at a time as owner Elon Musk looks to find additional revenue streams to make X/Twitter profitable as the platform has seen a ton of advertisers leaving, with The New York Times reported late last year that the social media site may lose up to $75 million in 2023 revenue as a result of advertisers departing.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
