Over the weekend, Elon Musk‘s X changed its content guidelines to allow pornography on the platform. This is the wrong direction for the app, formerly known as Twitter, to take, especially as pornography addiction is on the rise and the industry is being exposed for its unethical practices.
While adult content had not explicitly been banned, the website now clearly states that “consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behavior” may be shared as long as it is “properly labeled.” Some other restrictions were defined, such as preventing pornography in profile pictures. However, these rules have a slim chance of actually protecting users from nudity when using the website.
Enabling the stranglehold that pornography has on our culture is unjustifiable. Pornography websites receive more visits than X, Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, Pinterest, and Zoom combined. Approximately 69% of American men and 40% of American women view internet pornography every year, while 57% of those aged 18-25 report using pornography monthly or more.
Pornography addiction is becoming quite common in the United States. It is difficult to track the precise numbers because most habitual pornography users are not aware of their addiction, but 11% of men self-report they are addicted, along with 3% of women. That is more than 20 million people, and the real number is likely much higher than that.
While the pervasiveness of addiction is a broad social problem, the pornography industry itself is incredibly exploitative, and widening its reach on X is profoundly wrong.
Last year, the parent company of Pornhub admitted that it had profited from content showing victims of sex trafficking and was forced to pay a $1.8 million fine in addition to victim compensation. The adult content creators GirlsDoPorn had earlier been indicted for coercing dozens of women into filmed sex and lying about posting the videos online.
One former pornographic actress said adult entertainment companies “trap women legally into contracts when they’re vulnerable,” and child sex trafficking within the pornography industry is well documented. In fact, “teen” is the most common word used in the titles of pornographic videos.
Child pornography has been hosted on Pornhub, which faced a different legal challenge due to its near-nonexistent moderating practices. Even X has been criticized for its failure to answer key questions about its reporting of child sexual abuse.
Beyond hosting this depraved content, the pornography industry is also specifically targeting children as consumers. Some states have started to pass laws that require pornographic websites to verify the ages of users to prevent children from accessing their content. Pornhub responded by disabling service in Utah in 2023 and Texas earlier this year. Rather than implement basic safety measures, the pornography industry is attempting to get these laws changed.
These companies are transparent in their targeting of children, but the damage caused by being exposed to adult content as a teenager or younger is severe. In 2021, pop star Billie Eilish talked about how she “started watching porn when I was like 11.” She said, “I think it really destroyed my brain, and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.” Eilish even commented that her exposure to aggressive pornography gave her nightmares, but her experience is not unique.
More than half of teenagers report first seeing pornography by the age of 13, and three-quarters of those between the ages of 13 and 17 have viewed pornography online. Furthermore, 52% of teenagers reported they have viewed violent pornography that depicts “rape, choking, or someone in pain.” Beyond simple exposure, a considerable portion of both teenage boys and girls habitually consume pornographic content.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The consequences of using pornography at such a young age are far-reaching. Among teenagers who have seen pornography, 79% said they learned how to have sex from it, 48% said they learned how to talk to partners, and 72% said they learned what types of partners they find attractive. The long-term effects of using adult content are similarly frightening. Divorce rates, teenage pregnancy, and depression have all been associated with its usage.
Unfortunately, the pervasiveness of pornography in our culture is a problem that has been growing for decades, but the constant access to illicit material on smartphones has made the problem worse. Allowing pornography on X is the completely wrong direction for the social media platform to take.