Political Commentator Brandon Tatum has called on X owner Elon Musk to "address the issue" of endorsing adult content on the social media platform, following new policy changes.
The owner of X, formerly Twitter, has updated the platform's policy which will allow users to share pornographic material on the site, as long as it meets certain rules and conditions.
The policy, updated in May 2024, the 'Adult Content' policy allows users to "share consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behaviour, provided it's properly labelled and not prominently displayed".
Discussing the update on GBN America, Tatum hit out at the changes and claimed it is "nothing to do with morals", but it simply "comes down to money".
In conversation with host Mark Dolan, Tatum fumed: "If you can allow this type of material to be consumed and also monetised on its platform, I mean, that's just another market of financial gain for him.
"It takes a little bit away from OnlyFans and some of these other websites that have sexually explicit content, and all they're going to do is try to translate that to X, and have subscriptions and all of the same stuff."
The commentator added that Musk wants to "try and get revenues up" on X given its rocky road since coming under Musk's ownership, and he is "disregarding the sanity of people and disregarding the moral standards of society".
Tatum told GBNA: "It's a business. At the end of the day, if people want to consume this, they have the option to consume, they have the option to opt-out. And that's what capitalism is all about."
Mark then highlighted the "concerning" decision made by Musk and how the update may incur "unwanted pornographic content" on the X feeds of adults who are not consenting.
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Tatum agreed with Mark, responding: "You hit the nail on the head. It is a concern, especially of mine.
"And I hope that X and Elon Musk put in safeguards where you can put in your settings that you want to ban, or at least hide that material from your feed because it has happened to me.
"It would be incredibly embarrassing if I was doing a business meeting, and I'm showing somebody my X account and then pornography pops up. So I think it is a concern - I'm hoping that X address the issue."
Tatum highlighted another concern with the policy and stressed that although adults will be able to willingly ban the content, children may accidentally be exposed to it.
Tatum explained: "The biggest concern for me is that these young people are now going to be exposed to it.
"And I'm wondering if X is going to have an age restriction where it cannot be produced to people under a certain age, or you have to verify that you're 18 or above, because in America you have to be 18 or above to consume adult content.
"So not just that you click a button and say I'm 18, but that you actually verify that a person is 18 before they can consume or see any of that content."
