Explicit content consistently recommended to 13-year-olds on X, report finds

Sexually explicit content could be recommended to even 13-year-olds on Elon Musk’s

The Center to Counter Digital Hate warned that X’s algorithm and “weak security measures” were recommending pornography to young people and exposing them to possible direct sexual contact from adults.

Researchers from the nonprofit opened two UK-based accounts posing as a 13-year-old boy and girl to test X’s adult content policy through search results, algorithm, profiles, and the Communities section.

To test the search bar, researchers entered sexual terms “that a curious teenager would naturally search for,” such as “sex, porn, breasts, and hentai,” and 80 percent of searches for sexual terms returned some clear results, making this content among the top ten results containing media, the report said.

Numerous videos and images of women performing oral sex on a man, as well as a woman lying on the couch masturbating, have emerged. No age verification, content warnings or filtering steps intervened between the teen’s account and any sexually explicit material displayed in the search bar.

After these open searches, researchers found that the account’s For You algorithm was modified to include graphic images; 30.5 percent of posts recommended in the feed were explicit.

These accounts were also able to easily join 15 of the 20 adult sexual communities, including groups named “Virgin Trades”, “Onlyfans virgin club +18”, “Kink Kings & Queens” and “Goon Group”. These communities contained explicitly 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 teens, researchers liked posts in the community where users offered to message for interaction.

Teen accounts were able to bypass the default settings, which meant they could only receive direct messages from accounts they followed; This was an attempt to protect them. In doing so, the accounts received numerous direct message requests from adult accounts, including an unsolicited video of a man masturbating.

It’s been almost a year since the Online Safety Act passed, which required tech platforms to impose age restrictions to protect child users from harmful content. Adult sites, including the world’s most visited site PornHub, have been forced to provide age verification for UK visitors as part of a government crackdown.

Services that fail to comply could face fines of 10 per cent of annual worldwide revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater.

Ofcom launched an investigation earlier this year into reports that the Grok AI chatbot was being used to create and share sexually explicit deepfakes of real people, including children.

X claimed that it had since taken measures to resolve the issue. NBC News The artificial intelligence chatbot is still producing dozens of sexual images and videos depicting real people, a statement on Tuesday claimed.

The UK Children’s Commissioner issued a warning last August stating that X “remains the most common source of pornography for children, surpassing even dedicated pornography sites”.

CCDH UK head of research Callum Hood said the findings were evidence that X needed to take its responsibility to protect children more seriously: “These findings suggest that

“Almost a year after publication,

He warned this increased the risk of children being groomed and sexually exploited.

“The risk is not just in the availability of explicit content, but in how quickly and consistently it is recommended to young users. A child can do a simple search and within seconds they can be shown graphic sexual material, which is then recommended over and over again in their feed,” he explained. “This creates a pathway from simple curiosity to continued exposure and even areas where adults can interact with them. This significantly increases the risk of grooming and exploitation.”

A spokesperson for Ofcom said: “Protecting children is a priority for Ofcom. Under the Online Safety Act, technology firms are responsible for ensuring sites, platforms and apps are safer for children who use them. They must take a safety-first approach to how their services are designed and operated, including tackling maintenance, tackling child sexual exploitation material and using age checks to prevent children accessing pornography.

“Companies that fail to comply with these rules may face sanctions. We have launched investigations into more than 100 platforms, including X, and issued more than a dozen fines for non-compliance.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology 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 fines of over £3 million. They have our full support to take action where necessary.”

“We have also launched a consultation on the next steps to give children the childhood they deserve. We are looking at everything from age limits to safer design features in AI chatbots and games to social media bans.”

Independent He approached X for comment.