Hidden impact ban on 'dangerous' porn category could have on Elon Musk
Elon Musk's bank balance looks pretty healthy right now, with the world's richest man well on the way to becoming the world's first trillionaire. Still, his X platform could soon be hit hard in the pocket unless it complies with new rules involving pornography.
The tech billionaire purchased Twitter back in October 2022, with Elon Musk shelling out a beefy $44 billion for the social media giant. There's been plenty of controversy since then, with Musk rolling back the block feature, making enemies of several major celebrities before they jumped ship to Bluesky, and concerning headlines that X has lost billions since he took the reins.
While Musk's own ex has branded X a 'poison prison', others are more concerned with the images and videos that can be easily accessed on there. In the aftermath of countries including the United Kingdom, France, and Italy making moves on the porn industry, the likes of Pornhub are also currently banned in 24 US states.
Pornhub has clapped back at the restrictions amid claims it's losing millions of users and seeing a spike in VPN usage to circumvent the laws. It's just been dealt another blow in the United Kingdom, with the government ruling that adult materials involving strangulation will now be classed as a criminal offense.
For anyone who's underestimating the severity of the rules, 'choking' porn will now be on the same level as child sexual abuse materials and terrorism content. Those who are found with videos relating to this kind of pornography could face up to five years in prison, while Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, Alex Davies-Jones, has warned that individual platforms need to listen.
Davies-Jones reiterated: "If they have proven to have failed to prevent that from being shown on the platform, then there is a fine for them of £18 million or up to 10 percent of global revenue, whichever is bigger; sadly we both know where that is in relation to some of these big platforms."
$23.5 million in fines would be bad enough, but considering X's global revenue was reported as $2.5 billion in 2024, $250 million is much higher. Considering revenue was said to be down 13.7% year-on-year, losing nearly this again due to fines would be devastating.
The Ministry of Justice says that advises tech companies to use automated systems that can detect and hide images, or use stricter content policies to stop this content from doing the rounds.
Non-fatal strangulation and non-fatal suffocation were classified as criminal offences in person as part of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, but now, it's been extended to online as well.
Either way, posting or publishing material that features the act of choking online is being reclassified as a criminal offence under amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. Victims will also no longer have to come forward, and the time limit for prosecution will be extended from six months to three years.
The British government says that it hopes all of the above will improve "access to justice for those who need it the most."