X (formerly Twitter) has long been regarded as towards the more permissive end of the social media spectrum, particularly since Elon Musk took over on a “free speech” ticket in 2022. Now it has tweaked its rules to formally allow sexual and violent content on the site.
X’s rules have never specifically forbidden such content, but they’ve never officially allowed it either, until now.
In new rules posted on its help pages, X now formally allows users to post adult and graphic content on the platform, on condition that the content is prominently labelled. The new rules also cover AI-generated videos and images.
The updated guidance reads: “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. 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.”
Adult content will not be available to children, and exploitative content is also out under the new rules: “We balance this freedom by restricting exposure to Adult Content for children or adult users who choose not to see it,” the post went on. “We also prohibit content promoting exploitation, nonconsent, objectification, sexualization or harm to minors, and obscene behaviors. We also do not allow sharing Adult Content in highly visible places such as profile photos or banners.”
A similar update to X’s violent content rules reasons that graphic content should be allowed to post such content to “express themselves, show and learn about what’s happening, and debate global issues, often sharing images and videos as part of the conversation.”
It adds that the content should not be “excessively gory or depicting sexual violence.” The platform continues to disallow content that explicitly threatens or incites/glorifies violence.
Although X has never really banned porn, the new rules could let it build services specifically around adult content as a means of bolstering flagging revenues.
About 13% of posts on the platform contained adult content, according to a 2022 Reuters report citing internal company documents., and anecdotally adult content on X appears to be on the increase, with a recent proliferation of porn bots on the platform.
Last October, Australia fined X for failing to provide information about child abuse content, and India warned several social networks, including X, to remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms.
