X is failing British children: Here’s what needs to be done

Content Note: Descriptions of sexually explicit materials.

The UK has one of the world’s strongest online safety laws. It requires platforms that host pornography to put effective safeguards in place so children cannot access it. Ofcom began enforcing those rules in July 2025.

X is not complying with them.

CCDH UK’s new research found that X algorithmically recommended explicit sexual content to 13-year-old accounts, including videos of penetrative sex and masturbation pushed directly into their For You feeds. In 8 out of 10 searches for basic sexual terms, X returned at least one explicit post to those teen accounts. More than 30% of posts recommended in their feeds were sexually explicit, including content appearing to depict children, animals, and sexual assault.

The problem runs deeper than a feed full of pornography. X is also opening the door to direct contact between children and adults in sexual spaces, and that’s where the risk of exploitation begins.

From explicit content to adult contact 

Our researchers found that Cathy, our account simulating a 13-year-old girl, was able to join 15 out of 20 popular adult sexual communities on X. A simple settings change, exactly the kind a curious teenager might make, meant she could then receive direct messages from strangers. 

What followed was not an edge case. Cathy received a video of an adult man masturbating after doing nothing more than liking a post. X flagged the message as potentially graphic. It was still viewable. 

The Children’s Commissioner for England has already identified X as the number one place children encounter pornography in the UK. Our findings show the platform is directing children toward explicit content and then removing the barriers between them and adults with unknown intent. Grooming rarely begins with an overt act. It begins with contact, and X is not preventing that contact from happening.

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This is what child exploitation looks like online 

What our research documents is a platform that algorithmically moves children into increasingly sexualised spaces and then makes them accessible to adults in those spaces, with inadequate warnings and insufficient safeguards at every step. 

That is the result of choices about how X is designed and what it prioritises. Platform design that puts engagement ahead of child safety creates these conditions. Explicit content shapes what children come to expect. Direct contact from adults in sexual spaces creates real opportunities for manipulation, coercion, and abuse. X’s systems are enabling this. 

The law exists for exactly this reason 

The UK’s Online Safety Act is unambiguous: platforms that host pornography must implement highly effective age assurance measures and prevent children from accessing sexually explicit material. Ofcom began enforcing those requirements in July 2025. 

Nearly a year later, our research suggests X is not in compliance. The platform is not applying content warnings consistently, not preventing teen accounts from joining adult sexual communities, and not stopping adults from reaching children in those spaces. 

Ofcom has the tools to act and must use them. X must be brought into compliance, its systems must be overhauled, and it must no longer serve as a pathway for adults to access children in sexualised spaces. 

CCDH will keep documenting these failures, but documentation alone is not enough. Regulators must enforce the law that already exists to keep children safe. 

If you believe children deserve better, add your name today.