X is working on NSFW Communities for adult content

X is developing features to allow administrators of its “Communities” function, a tool similar to subreddits, to label their groups as containing “adult content”. This development in the Elon Musk-owned company was confirmed by an engineer following reports of the company’s plans for enabling NSFW groups.

In a post on X, engineer Dong Wook Chung revealed that NSFW content would be automatically filtered in the app’s Communities feature soon. To avoid automatic filtering of content, admins are now able to set ‘Adult content’ in their settings, according to Chung.

Previously, researchers had observed indications that X was intending to create settings for “adult-sensitive” content. Nudity and other “graphic” content can be shared by users on X, but it is prevented from appearing in specific areas of the app, such as profile pictures and Community cover photos.

The Communities feature on X has been present since before Musk’s acquisition. Twitter initially experimented with the idea in 2021, aiming to provide a more intimate space for conversations on the platform. While the enabling of NSFW features for its Communities was never publicly addressed by Twitter, it permitted adult content, standing out from most other social media platforms.

In 2022, there were reports of the company contemplating the creation of a competitor to OnlyFans with its creator subscription product. However, according to the Platformer newsletter, the idea was abandoned due to fear of exacerbating the company’s ongoing issues with illegal child exploitation content.

It remains uncertain whether X’s current leadership has addressed such past concerns. In a different post, X representative Chung mentioned that the new filtering option aims to make Communities safer by automatically filtering out adult content for everyone, stating, “Only users who have specified their age will be able to search Communities featuring NSFW content.”