How to Remove Porn From Your X-Channel Now That It’s Officially Allowed
After a recent surge of bots posting sexually suggestive messages on X , Elon Musk’s social media site appears to be giving up control of them. The website formerly known as Twitter updated its policy over the weekend to allow the “consensual creation and distribution of images of adult nudity or sexual conduct” on the app, albeit with some restrictions that at least nominally protect underage users.
The move does follow X’s past stance on obscene content, as the site has never pursued pornography. But with “pussy in bio” appearing uninvited under so many otherwise tame posts, the move to officially allow nudity could be seen as a bad sign for people who might want to use X in SFW environments.
Technically, these messages should also be considered spam, and this author argues that consent should also consider the viewer, not just the people involved in creating the content. With that in mind, here are the best ways we’ve found to clear your X-feed of pornography.
Try reporting it
Again, even if porn is legal, if a bot posts nudity in your post and links to an external site, it should be considered spam. In this case, you should first report this.
First, click the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the post, then click “Report Post” next to the flag icon. There select “Spam” . Click Next to submit your report and you will be prompted to mute or block the poster. Instead of “Spam”, you can also report the post as “offensive and offensive” or “sensitive or disturbing media” . X only allows you to choose one reason to post, so choose the one that fits best. “Abuse and Harassment” is best used for suspected illegal content, such as those related to child sexual abuse material, while sensitive or disturbing media is best applied to nudity that is not explicitly listed behind a content warning.
Your mileage will vary depending on reports. I report almost all the pornbots that infiltrate my comments and they still haven’t stopped them. Either way, it’s good practice to help protect your fellow users.
Enable sensitive content filter
X has its own built-in filter for sensitive content, although it still has its limitations and can be a bit draconian, as it places a blanket ban on anything the site deems “sensitive content”, which can combine violence and grooming with pornography. .
If you’re happy to set a general clear filter on your profile, open X in your browser (I didn’t see this option in the app), click your profile icon , click Settings & Privacy, and open the Privacy & Security menu. . Then click ” Content you see ” and make sure the “Show media that may contain sensitive content” checkbox is unchecked.
This won’t stop accounts from posting nudes in your replies, but it will force you to click the link before you can view them. Here, you can also tap Search Settings and turn on Hide Sensitive Content to prevent flagged posts. appears in your searches.
This is not a perfect solution as it only affects your eyes and does not prevent spam from interacting with you. It also relies on users either marking their own posts as sensitive or Twitter’s system detecting sensitive posts before they reach your screen, but every little bit helps.
Please try setting your account to be under 18 years of age.
This option is best used by parents on their children’s accounts. It essentially works the same as the method above, but it doesn’t allow you to click to see sensitive material.
It’s also very simple. When setting up your account, either do not enter a date of birth or make sure that you are under 18 years of age based on your date of birth. X will consider you to be a minor and will do its best to prevent you from viewing adult content.
Disable unpleasant words
To be more selective about eliminating pornography from your X-feed, try blocking messages that contain certain indecent words.
Once again, go to your settings, open Settings & Support , click Privacy & Security , and open Mute & Lock . Here you’ll be able to manage your muted words and try adding terms like the infamous “pussy in bio.” This is not an ideal solution for several reasons. First, you can only disable these words in your feed, not in replies to your posts. Secondly, bots are smart and it can be difficult to predict every term they will use. For example, instead of saying “pussy in bio”, they might say “pussy in bio”.
However, it doesn’t hurt to add a few terms here. You’ll be able to choose whether to apply mute to everyone or just people you don’t follow, as well as how long you want the mute to be active.
Use a parental control or porn blocking app.
While X once supported block lists, which allowed communities to create and share files that blocked specific users en masse, this feature is no longer active. A better alternative now lies in external applications such as Canopy .
These apps run on your device and operate differently, so be careful when signing up to make sure your choices don’t compromise your privacy too much.
Canopy is a paid option, but it is one of the most versatile. When active, it monitors your screen using an artificial intelligence algorithm and censors offensive images in real time. Note that this will require granting the app some high-level permissions, although Canopy’s FAQ promises that the company will “never sell your data” and only use what it deems necessary “to provide you with the highest quality product.”
Canopy is a paid service that starts at $7.99 per month for individual users, but it’s a good choice if you still want to use X for SFW content, since the app’s blacklisting may prevent you from visiting the site generally.