When Elon Musk completed the purchase of Twitter, he did so with a promise to fix the service’s problems and create a futuristic app that would bring together everything we needed in one place. Two years later, Twitter hasn’t changed much beyond the name: It’s now called X, and it still has many of the same problems and has created new ones.
One of these problems is the proliferation of adult content without any type of control; particularly in the form of “bots” that post pornographic images and videos in replies to all messages, usually as part of some sort of scam or promotion. After several attempts to put an end to these “robots”, Elon Musk seems to want to follow the maxim “if you can’t defeat the enemy, join him”.
Because the new big thing about Technically, pornography was already allowed on Twitter, but because it was not explicitly included in its rules; In other words, it was the users and content moderators themselves who had to decide what was acceptable in each situation. Tools such as the ability to flag sensitive content have been useful, but their use has not been enforced; this ends the new rules.
Users now have official protection against X for posting adult content; but in exchange, they must take certain measures to prevent it from being seen by minors and non-consenting adults. For example, users who post pornography “on a regular basis” are required to enable the option that marks images and videos as “sensitive”; This content is blocked both for users under 18 and for those who have not yet provided their date of birth. Additionally, content is displayed blurred by default for users who have not enabled the option to display it without censorship.
All pornographic content is permitted, whether real photographs or videos, animated content or content generated by Artificial Intelligence. All adult content is affected, not just pornography; SO, Videos showing violence are also allowed, provided that “they are not excessively bloody”. Likewise, pornographic content cannot show “sexual violence” and content inciting or glorifying violence is explicitly prohibited.
But without a doubt, the biggest effect these rules can have is the monetization of pornography and generating revenue for adult content creators. Overnight, X became a rival to OnlyFans, as allows users to earn money with the impressions generated by your publications. This may lead to an increase in the amount of adult content on the social network, if conditions are right for creators.
In practice, nothing can change; After all, pornography was already allowed Actually On Twitter. But it may also open a whole “Pandora’s box” for Elon Musk, if his content moderation team is not able to control the “explosion” of illegal content that this change could cause.
