The recent announcement by X, formerly known as Twitter, about its new policy on adult content has sparked confusion and concern among users, especially within the sex worker community. The platform’s clarification on handling adult content has left many creators wondering what, if anything, has actually changed.

On Monday, X announced an update to its policies regarding adult and violent content, aiming to bring more clarity and transparency to its enforcement practices. This announcement was perceived as another abrupt shift under Elon Musk’s ownership. However, according to adult performers and their advocates, the policy itself is not new.

“They were like, ‘Oh, adult content is allowed on Twitter now,’” said Sydney Leathers, an OnlyFans model and community manager for SpankChain. “Everyone in sex work is like, ‘Well, technically it kind of always has been.’”

Leathers highlighted that what has changed under Musk’s tenure is the platform’s moderation practices, which have become increasingly opaque. The influx of scammers posing as adult performers has further muddied the waters, causing confusion among users and making it harder for legitimate sex workers to reach their audiences.

“I definitely see people who don’t realize that the bot accounts aren’t real sex workers,” Leathers explained. “I have wondered before, ‘Is that going to make people annoyed?’ Like, ‘Oh, I’m so tired of seeing these sex workers?’”

Even before Musk’s acquisition, Twitter was a rare refuge for adult content providers. Unlike other mainstream social media platforms, Twitter never explicitly banned pornographic content. Despite this, sex workers have found it increasingly difficult to grow and maintain their followings on the platform.

Olivia Snow, a professional dominatrix and tech policy researcher at UCLA, noted that X’s updated policy uses the same language as its previous sensitive content policy, which predates Musk’s ownership. The only notable changes are the separation of rules around adult content from those around violent content and the inclusion of definitions for artificial intelligence-generated adult content.

Further complicating the situation was a recent post from Musk that seemed to disapprove of adult content. On May 20, he posted a meme that depicted Instagram as a strip club and suggested X as a family-friendly alternative. This post, now deleted, and his subsequent engagement with influencer Pearl Davis, who supports banning porn, have added to the uncertainty.

Adult performers like Trip Richards find the platform’s new policies offer some clarity but still feel restricted. “I also still can’t use the features that other premium/blue users can, such as offering subscriptions or receiving ad revenue,” Richards said. “This means that our content is permitted in name only but not given equal footing with other types of accounts and postings.”

Mike Stabile, director of public affairs for the Free Speech Coalition, suggested that X might be positioning itself to fill a gap left by dedicated pornography websites that have ceased operations in states with stringent age-verification laws. “We’re seeing consumers go to another site, to Reddit or Twitter, where they can get adult content without age-verifying,” Stabile said. “It’s possible that X sees a hole in the market here.”

The prevalence of automated pornographic replies has also become synonymous with X’s adult content. These replies often direct users to external links, sometimes containing sexual imagery. This proliferation of scammers has negatively impacted the engagement of legitimate sex workers on the platform.

Despite the challenges, sex workers like Leathers and Richards continue to use X because it remains the only major social media platform that permits their content. Leathers pointed out that the current political, cultural, and tech policy environment in the U.S. has led to one of the most restrictive periods of sexual censorship she has seen since starting her career in 2013.

“For a lot of people, that’s their main source of income, and it’s really upsetting,” she said. “It’s endlessly frustrating, and I don’t really know what the answer is.”

As X navigates these policy changes, the platform and its users, especially those in the adult content industry, face an uncertain and challenging future.