Some in the adult community took note recently of a clause in the "sensitive media policy" section of Twitter's overall rules noting that depictions of "bodily fluids including blood, feces, semen, etc." have been lumped under the "graphic violence" umbrella of media deemed "sensitive" in the eyes of Twitter's gatekeepers. Any such media may not be posted "within areas that are highly visible on Twitter, including in live video, profile or header images." In addition, Twitter asks that those users who do share such content mark their accounts as sensitive.
So what does this mean? In short—as has been the policy for adult content on Twitter for some time—you should not post anything in your header or profile image, nor live broadcast any video, containing ejaculate of any kind. And if you want to post any pictures or video containing visible semen or other bodily fluids in a tweet, your account should be marked as sensitive.
But things, of course, are a bit more complicated than that.
For starters, the policy makes a blanket statement that "there are some types of sensitive media content that we don't allow at all, because they have the potential to normalize violence and cause distress to those who view them." There is no further elaboration as to what type of content this restriction might encompass. Then further down, under the "violent sexual conduct" section, it identifies depictions of "sexualized violence" as a specific type of sensitive media content to which the above guidelines apply—defining sexualized violence as "inflicting physical harm on an individual within an intimate setting, where it is not immediately obvious if those involved have consented to take part."
While there should certainly never be any imagery of nonconsensual sex disseminated via Twitter or anywhere else, those who've paid any sort of attention to anti-porn propaganda over the years are sure to see the red flags in the above language—in essence, that it could be applied to the great majority of adult content by anyone with an agenda to do so.
Does this mean everybody in porn needs to now scramble to clean up their Twitter accounts? Not exactly. However, caution should be taken moving forward not to post a preponderance of pornographic fare, because of this troubling caveat in the policy: "Your account may be permanently suspended if the majority of your activity on Twitter is sharing sensitive media."
With that in mind, here are some important points to be aware of, in addition to those above:
• You cannot target people with unsolicited pictures or video containing adult content or any of the other things described above.
• The first time you're found using any type of "sensitive media" in live video or your profile images, Twitter will ask you to remove the offending content and temporarily lock you out of your account; should you do so again, your account will be permanently suspended.
• If media you tweet or live broadcast is reported as sensitive, and you have not marked your account as sensitive, Twitter may either label said media as sensitive or in the case of a live video, remove it entirely; it may also mark your account as sensitive.
• If you repeatedly post sensitive content without labeling it as such, Twitter may permanently mark your account as sensitive; this cannot be appealed.
• You may appeal a suspension of your account for having graphic violence (which includes the depiction of semen and other bodily fluids) or adult content in your profile or header image at this link.
Finally, AVN reminds all those in the adult community that it has created its own social media platform, AVN Stars, free of the restrictions imposed by Twitter and others. Explore AVN Stars here.
