X Platform Updates Policy, Allowing Consensual Adult Content: Following Twitter's Lead

Social media platform X says it will now formally allow people to show consenting adult content, as long as it’s clearly labeled as such. The move makes official policy when the platform was known as Twitter before billionaire Elon Musk bought it in 2022. In a recent update to its website, the San Francisco-based company said users should be able to “create, distribute and consume content related to sexual themes as long as it is produced and distributed consensually. Sexual expression, whether visual or Writing can be a legitimate form of artistic expression.” Mature content was also allowed under pre-Musk Twitter, although there was no official policy. X said it is restricting adult content to children and adult users who don’t want to see it.

“We also prohibit content that is exploitative, objectionable, objectionable, sexualized or promotes harm to minors and obscene behavior,” X said. It added that it does not allow the sharing of adult content in “highly visible” locations such as users’ profile photos or banners. X’s policy is in contrast to other social media platforms, such as Meta’s properties – Instagram and Facebook – as well as TikTok and Google’s YouTube. “The platform’s move to allow adult content dovetails well with the company’s post-Musk marketing strategy,” said Brooke Erin Duffy, associate professor of communications at Cornell University. “X is unapologetically provocative and has sought to differentiate itself from ‘brand safe’ competitors.”

The company seems to love people, including creators and artists, who have been marginalized by other social media platforms that have guidelines prohibiting nudity or sexual expression, she added.

This policy applies to real as well as artificial-intelligence-generated content.

X asks users who regularly post adult content to adjust their media settings to put all their images and video content behind a warning. This requires users to acknowledge that they want to see a posted image before they can see it.