Is Twitter Gearing Up To Purge 10 Million Porn Posting Users?

Shit's about to get real on Twitter, the last remaining major social media website that allows users to freely and openly post pornography. Indications are strong that Twitter is gearing up to purge as many as ten million users who post "too much porn," for fear that it's hurting their bottom line, particularly their reputation with big money advertisers.

Business Insider recently posted a piece wherein analyst Robert Peck predicted that the purge was coming because "'basic searches' on Twitter produce results riddled with pornography, and he has seen some big name brands' ads appear next to that adult content." A far more in depth piece on The Daily Beast (link below) looks at the impact that this decision will have on the porn industry, and more importantly, the free speech aspect of Twitter that users have often preached is the platform's last remaining leg up on the competition.

“Twitter is one of the few large social media platforms that doesn’t apply a lot of censorship rules to our images so by default it’s a network tool in the adult industry,” says adult actress Mercedes Carrera.

Like many others, Carrera is worried about the types of changes recent headlines might encourage Twitter to make. One week after Twitter’s revenue forecast was reported to be below expectations and deemed a “nightmare earnings scenario,” Nielsen, a global television and digital data company, pulled its advertising campaign after discovering paid promoted tweets on pornography-associated pages. “I don’t think adult content is the reason Twitter’s stock plummeted but adult content is always an easy scapegoat in society, always,” says Carrera.

Producer/director Glenn King of MeanBitch Productions acknowledges the value of connecting companies and entertainers with targeted consumers, but also the need to clearly define his product. “I need to differentiate my product from others because there are lots of people in my industry that don’t do full nudity, so I have to show that when you go to meanbitches.com you're getting the fully explicit content. That’s part of my marketing,” says King.

While all of these points are valid, by far the most damning argument comes later in the piece...

I applaud Twitter for being a free speech zone, previously unafraid of whatever its filthy-minded user base might post. You don’t like porn on your timeline? Don’t follow porn stars. That’s what sets Twitter apart.

This is as old as free speech itself. It's the thing proponents have argued since the beginning of time. You don't like it, don't look at it, don't consume it, just ignore it. This argument has been the cornerstone of free speech, which is in essence the right of people to say what they want, regardless of whether you like what they're saying.

This is, of course, a tenuous argument when dealing with a corporate entity that relies on advertising dollars to stay in business. When a site attains a level of notoriety, that allows them to welcome in big money advertisers who may not agree with the free speech stance. It's a tough, tough situation, one in which there are no easy answers, and it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. 

Via The Daily Beast