X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, is testing a feature that allows users to create or join communities focused on “adult content” or other “not safe for work” material.
Users who create a community within the app can specify in the settings that their group “contains adult-only content,” according to screenshots discovered by Daniel Buchuk, an analyst at Watchful, which tracks app development testing . X groups will then feature an “adult content” label. Users who don’t tag their community may see some content filtered or removed, according to screenshots of the rules.
Communities on X may be private, and it appears that the social media network will eventually require age verification for groups that feature adult content. X policies currently restrict “graphic media, adult nudity, and sexual behavior for viewers under the age of 18 or for viewers who do not include a date of birth on their profile.” A senior software engineer at X, Dong Wook Chung, published Thursday that the purpose of the new label is to “make communities safer for everyone” and that “only users who have specified their age will be able to search for communities with NSFW content.”
An X spokesperson confirmed that Chung is an employee, but declined to comment further.
US lawmakers have made protecting teens and other young people online a key focus in recent months, including at a contentious Senate hearing in January that featured the CEOs of several social networks, including X’s Linda Yaccarino.
Openly offering “NSFW” groups could be another way for X to try to differentiate itself from other mainstream social networking services. Adult material lived on Twitter long before owner Elon Musk took control and changed the company’s name, and former Twitter executives even considered creating an OnlyFans-style subscription offering for content creators to adults. Twitter abandoned the project after deciding the company was unwilling to police “harmful sexual content,” including child pornography, according to The Verge.
Musk has openly expressed his belief that X should contain almost all content that is not illegal. X allows posts about topics like sexual behavior if users label it sensitive, but it isn’t policies prohibit adult content in live videos and profile pictures. It is also against the rules to promote such topics as part of an advertisement.
It’s unclear when the test will be available to a wider audience, and it’s possible the feature could still be phased out.