A total of 13% of Twitter is not-safe-for-work, as internal documents say adult content is one of the fastest growing subgenres on the platform

Twitter’s NSFW realm has grown in recent years. SOPA Images/Getty Images NSFW content is a fast-growing area on Twitter, according to internal documents obtained by Reuters. Twitter is one of the biggest mainstream social media platforms with loose rules around nudity.

The platform’s NSFW subculture has exploded in the last few years. Adult content is one of the fastest growing subgenres of content for English-speaking heavy-users of Twitter along with cryptocurrency, according to internal documents obtained by Reuters. The documents estimate that 13% of all Twitter posts are now not safe for work content — media such as nude videos, pornography, explicit photos — while the social media platform’s traditionally successful areas of interest including news and sports have declined.

The documents also say that the amount of Twitter’s most active tweeters — the ones who write an overwhelming portion of the site’s posts — has drastically plummeted since the start of the pandemic, according to Reuters. NSFW media has risen in popularity on Twitter, which has loose rules around nudityOver the last few years, Twitter has increasingly become a hub for NSFW content. It’s one of the only mainstream social media platforms that readily allows users to share explicit media; its main restrictions revolve around not letting users include adult content in their profile banners or live videos.

Other platforms like Instagram and Facebook have much stricter and narrower rules defining what people are allowed to post, with users such as sex workers or models sometimes banned from the platforms.  Twitter has also seen a rise of “NSFW alts,” or secondary anonymous accounts where people share and view NSFW content. It’s very common to see creators from adult sites such as OnlyFans or Fansly have popular Twitter accounts where they share views into their daily lives, previews of their explicit content, and links to where people can subscribe.

 In June 2021, Paper Magazine declared that Twitter was experiencing a “Porn Golden Age” and described an entire subculture called Porn Twitter. The Twitter community has both positive attributes, Paper reported, and a darker side that includes stolen “movie clips, OnlyFans screengrabs, leaked celebrity nudes, Snapchat captures, magazine scans and all sorts of other morally dubious content. “Twitter was reportedly planning to launch an OnlyFans-like subscription service this year to monetize the ever-growing amount of adult content on the platform.

But the project froze after a team discovered that Twitter could not successfully moderate harmful NSFW content (like child sexual abuse material) on the platform.  Twitter told Reuters it was beefing up its efforts to keep child sexual exploitation material off the platform after the outlet reported that advertisers like PBS Kids and Dyson pulled out after their ads were placed next to tweets linking to child pornography. It’s unclear how Twitter’s NSFW content regulations might change (or remain the same) under Elon Musk, who Reuters reported recently told co-investors that he plans to close his $44 billion deal to take over the company by the end of the week.

Musk said he plans to chop down 75% of the social media platform’s workforce, according to a Washington Post report, and has vowed to promote “free speech” on the website.  Twitter did not respond to Insider’s request for comment. Read the original article on Insider.