Despite what people might tell you, Twitter isn’t “nothing but porn.” As it turns out, only 13% of it is … that is, according to a new report from Insider.
Adult content is one of the fastest-growing subgenres of content for English-speaking heavy-users of Twitter along with cryptocurrency, according to internal documents obtained by Reuters.
The documents estimate that 13% of all Twitter posts are now not safe for work content — media such as nude videos, pornography, and explicit photos — while the social media platform’s traditionally successful areas of interest, including news and sports, have declined.
According to Reuters, the number of Twitter’s most active tweeters who write an overwhelming portion of the site’s posts also has drastically plummeted since the start of the pandemic.
In June 2021, Paper Magazine declared that Twitter was experiencing a “Porn Golden Age” and described an entire subculture called Porn Twitter. The Twitter community has both positive attributes, Paper reported, and a darker side that includes stolen “movie clips, OnlyFans screengrabs, leaked celebrity nudes, Snapchat captures, magazine scans and all sorts of other morally dubious content.”
Twitter was reportedly planning to launch an OnlyFans-like subscription service this year to monetize the ever-growing amount of adult content on the platform. But the project froze after a team discovered that Twitter could not successfully moderate harmful NSFW content (like child sexual abuse material) on the platform.
Twitter told Reuters it was beefing up its efforts to keep child sexual exploitation material off the platform after the outlet reported that advertisers like PBS Kids and Dyson pulled out after their ads were placed next to tweets linking to child pornography.
It’s unclear how Twitter’s NSFW content regulations might change (or remain the same) under Elon Musk, who Reuters reported recently told co-investors that he plans to close his $44 billion deal to take over the company by the end of the week. Musk said he plans to chop down 75% of the social media platform’s workforce, according to a Washington Post report, and has vowed to promote “free speech” on the website.