The internet became increasingly puritanical over the last few months. Tumblr banned all porn from its platform and other social media sites followed suit with more regulations and censorship of sex-related posts.
Many people turned to Twitter as a save haven for porn starts, sex workers and everyday people who want to post some slightly juicer stuff on private alt accounts for a smaller circle of friends.
A recent article by XBIZ got people worried that Twitter’s updated Terms of Service might mean the company is following in the footsteps of Tumblr by putting an end to any usage of their service for porn and other sex-related content.
Twitter says though that they have no such plans. A spokesperson said “We recently updated our rules to better demonstrate what is and is not allowed on Twitter. The updates were made to provide more clarity, not to reflect changes in our policies or enforcement practices.”
In a section of their Terms of Service titled “Sensitive Media Policy,” updated on March 2019, Twitter has, among other things, introduced a few new guidelines. Sensitive media, for the company, includes media that depicts graphic violence, adult content, violent sexual content, and gratuitous gore. This content is not allowed to be shared in profile photos or header imagery. As for “graphic violence and consensually produced adult content,” it can be shared within tweets but it will be marked as sensitive and will be available behind a warning.
Following Tumblr’s porn ban, over 150 million users left the platform. And of those, many migrated to Twitter to hopefully reassemble their communities. Porn performers, both studio performers and those creating homemade work, have corralled their followers there for updates, sharing previews of upcoming scenes.
Other sex workers have also used the platform to share their work or stay in touch with fans. Additionally, users who just share their own homemade content for the enjoyment of friends have spurred communities of “alt Twitter” accounts, sometimes with tags like #TumblrRefugee in their bios — porn has long had a presence on Twitter so these refugees only added to it, as opposed to having created it. Under this new policy, it seemed even these accounts would be in danger.
“Accounts that simply post adult content either to express their sexuality or their interests will not be suspended,” a Twitter spokesperson said though.
The site has long allowed adult content on its platform, and according to the company, plans to continue doing that as long as it was created and shared consensually — creeper shots and revenge porn would not fall under this.