Elon Musk testing ‘Adult content’ groups for X users? ‘Not safe’ material seen

X groups will feature an “adult content” label and users who fail to label their community will see their content filtered out or removed.

Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is testing a feature which will allow users to create or join c.ommunities focused on “adult content” or other “not safe for work” material. Within the app, users can create a community which can be specified in the settings as “contains adult-sensitive content,” according to screenshots taken by Daniel Buchuk, an analyst at Watchful, that tracks apps’ development testing.

Tesla and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk looks on during an in-conversation event. Communities on X can be private and the social media platform will require age verification for groups that feature adult content, the rules showed. (AP)

Following this, X groups will feature an “adult content” label and users who fail to label their community will see their content filtered out or removed, according to the screenshots of the rules.

Communities on X can be private and the social media platform will require age verification for groups that feature adult content, the rules showed. Currently, X’s policies restrict “graphic media, adult nudity, and sexual behavior for viewers who are under 18 or viewers who do not include a birth date on their profile.” 

A senior software engineer at X, Dong Wook Chung, said that the purpose of the new label is “about making communities safer for everyone” and that “only users who have specified their age will be able to search communities with NSFW content.”

This comes as US lawmakers have been focussed on protecting teens and other young people online in recent months. In January, chief executive officers of several social networks including X’s Linda Yaccarino appeared in a US Senate hearing.

Elon Musk has been open about X carrying almost all content that isn’t illegal as the platform allows posts about topics such as sexual behavior if users label it as sensitive.