Children as young as 13 could be recommended sexually explicit content on Elon Musk’s X, according to a new report exposing potential breaches of the Online Safety Act.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate warned that X’s algorithm and “weak safeguards” recommended pornography to teenagers and exposed them to possible direct sexual contact from adults.
Researchers from the non-profit organisation set up two accounts based in the UK, pretending to be a 13-year-old boy and girl, in order to test X’s adult content policy through its search results, algorithm, profiles and Communities section.
To test the search bar, researchers entered sexual terms that “a curious teenager might naturally search for”, such as “sex, porn, boobs, and hentai”, the report said, and found that 80 per cent of searches for sexual terms returned some explicit results, with that content appearing within the first ten results that contained media.
Multiple videos and images came up of women performing oral sex on a man, as well as a video of a woman lying on a sofa masturbating. No age verification, content warning, or filtering step intervened between the teen account and any explicit material brought up in the search bar.
The researchers found that after these explicit searches, the account’s For You algorithm was altered to include graphic images; 30.5 per cent of recommended posts in the feed were explicit.
These accounts were also able to join 15 out of 20 adult sexual communities with ease, including groups named “Virgin Trades”, “Onlyfans virgin club +18”, “Kink Kings & Queens” and “Goon Group”. These communities had overtly sexual and transactional content, including posts soliciting or offering nude images, according to the report.
To test whether community participation would lead to direct contact between adults and teenagers, researchers liked posts in the community where users offered to send messages for engagement.
The teen accounts were able to bypass default settings that mean they can only receive direct messages from accounts they follow, an attempt to safeguard them. In doing this, the accounts received numerous direct message requests from adult accounts, including one unsolicited video of a man masturbating.
It comes almost a year after the Online Safety Act, which has legislated tech platforms must enforce age limits to protect child users from harmful content. Adult sites, including the world’s most visited, PornHub, have been forced to introduce age verification for UK visitors as part of the government crackdown.
Services that don’t comply could face fines of 10 per cent of worldwide annual revenues or £18 million, whichever is greater.
Ofcom opened an investigation earlier this year into reports of its Grok AI chatbot being used to create and share sexual deepfakes of real people, including children.
X has since claimed it implemented measures to try and address the issue, although a report by NBC News on Tuesday suggested the AI chatbot was still generating dozens of sexual images and videos depicting real people.
The Children’s Commissioner for England issued a warning last August that X “remains the most common source of pornography for children, outstripping even dedicated pornography sites.”
Callum Hood, head of research at CCDH UK said the findings were proof that X needed to take its responsibility to protect children more seriously: “These findings show X will quickly reshape its ‘For You’ feed to recommend explicit content to young users. Worse, with a single change to account settings, adults can directly message them, leaving children exposed to more explicit sexual material and the risk of grooming.
“Nearly a year after enforcement began, X is still failing to comply with the Online Safety Act, allowing children into sexualised spaces and continuing to host harmful content. How much more evidence is needed before X takes its responsibility to protect children seriously?”
He warned that this increased the risk of grooming and sexual exploitation for children.
“The risk is not just that explicit content exists, it is how quickly and consistently it is recommended to young users. A child can make a simple search and be shown graphic sexual material within seconds, which is then repeatedly recommended in their feed,” he explained. “That creates a pathway that goes from simple curiosity to ongoing exposure, and even into spaces where adults could contact them. This significantly increases the risk of grooming and exploitation.”
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Protecting children is a priority for Ofcom. Under the Online Safety Act, tech firms are accountable for ensuring sites, platforms and apps are safer for the children who use them. They must take a safety-first approach in how their services are designed and operated, including by combatting grooming, tackling child sexual abuse material, and using age checks to prevent kids from accessing pornography.
“Those companies that do not comply can expect to face enforcement action. We’ve launched investigations into more than 100 platforms, including X, and issued over a dozen fines for non-compliance.”
A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: “These findings are disturbing. Platforms have a clear responsibility under the Act to protect children from harmful content. They must step up and take responsibility.
“Ofcom has strong enforcement powers it can use where platforms fail to comply with the law and has already issued over £3 million in fines. They have our full backing to act where necessary.
“We have also launched a consultation on the next steps to give kids the childhood they deserve. We are looking at everything from age limits and safer design features on AI chatbots and games, to a social media ban."
The Independent has approached X for comment.
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