Report: X is Testing Adult Content Communities

X, formerly known as Twitter, is reportedly testing a feature that would let users join or create adult content-focused communities.

Members of the social network would be able to create a community and specify in the app settings that their group “contains adult-sensitive content,” Bloomberg News reported Thursday (March 28).

The report cited screenshots found by Daniel Buchuk, an analyst at Watchful, which monitors apps’ development testing. Those screenshots that say users who fail to label their communities as adult oriented could see their content filtered out or removed.

According to the report, it’s not clear whether X will require age verification for groups featuring adult content. Bloomberg pointed out that the company’s policies currently prohibit “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.” 

PYMNTS has contacted X for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

The report also noted that the effort is happening amid a focus by American lawmakers to improve child safety on social media, the subject of a U.S. Senate hearing last year, chaired by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and attended by X CEO Linda Yaccarino and other tech executives.

“Big Tech’s failure to police itself at the expense of our kids cannot go unanswered,” Durbin and Graham said ahead of last year’s session.

It’s also happening as X is making an effort to improve revenues as it contends with a drop in users. Last week saw a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on owner Elon Musk’s attempts to attract creators to the platform.

Podcaster Samir Chaudry, who met with Musk after he purchased the company, told WSJ that X’s strategy for creators remains unclear.

“They have to start showing us the path to building a business on the platform,” he said.

The report said that while X offers creators an ad-revenue-sharing program, it still trails platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram as a creator destinations. Some creators told the newspapers that X’s advertiser struggles have made the platform less attractive. Others say payments are inconsistent.

“We all still use it every day,” Chaudry said of X. “If we’re going to post original content there, I think we need to understand the path to success.”