Explicit search results for Sydney Sweeney reveal dangerous content moderation on X

By Abby Amoakuh

Published Aug 25, 2024 at 09:00 AM

Reading time: 3 minutes

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Images courtesy of Sydney Sweeney via Instagram

Even on a good day, it’s fair to say that the internet was probably a mistake. It’s an uncontrollable cesspit of hate speech, misogyny, and incitement to violence. Plus, leaving Tesla founder Elon Musk in charge of X (formerly Twitter), one of the world’s largest communication platforms, has only intensified these issues beyond what was previously conceivable.

Just in June 2024, the tech billionaire decided to allow “consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behaviour” on his platforms. Or, in other words, the CEO permitted the distribution of pornography on his site. However, in an era dominated by revenge porn and deep fake pornography, it is incredibly challenging to determine whether a media asset was created and disseminated with the consent of the depicted persons, leaving users and especially public figures in an extremely vulnerable position.

This new loophole exposes itself nowhere as gravely as with the search term “Sydney Sweeney.”

In March, the internet-reporting-focused publication 404 Media revealed that hackers were using artificial images, and nude scenes from Sydney Sweeney’s roles in Euphoria and The Voyeurs to lure X users into downloading malware.

The images and videos are usually posted in combination with links to other websites and the promise of gaining access to more pornographic content about the actress. However, these linkages ultimately lead to sites like thaudray.com and waufooke.com, which make malicious popup adware that hijacks browsers.

SCREENSHOT reached out to Dr Claire McGlynn, a professor at Durham Law School specialising in the legal regulation of pornography, sexual violence, and online abuse, for her insight into X’s lack of sexual content moderation:

“X is a cesspit of non-consensual and abusive content and this is only going to increase. X is taunting regulators and Governments with its obvious disdain for any restrictions on AI technology and the production of abusive content. They must rise to this challenge and take proactive steps to ensure that the largest technology companies and platforms both protect us from harm and free us to be online,” Dr McGlynn explained.

In addition to the site’s failure to remove the malicious malware, there’s been a stark increase in sexually suggestive and sometimes explicit content of Sweeney on X.

Working your way through the search results for her name feels like navigating a misogynistic, objectifying, and sexually exploitative horror show that exposes just how dangerous X’s new content moderation policy has become for young women online.

Of course, the treatment of Sweeney’s body is nothing new. Ever since the actress reached certified blonde bombshell status, the internet has been losing its mind over her physique, consisting of a trained and slim frame and a pair of relatively large breasts.

While the beauty of the feminine physique and society’s fascination with a curvaceous figure is certainly also nothing new—most of us grew up with Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian’s derrieres being the subjects of memes, songs and tabloid headlines—this type of online hysteria over a blonde actress with larger breasts is still surprising, sometimes even quite terrifying.

Of course, there are the kinds of posts that appreciate the actress’ holistic beauty. But then there are the ones that exploit her body, detaching it from her persona, sometimes even from her face, cutting it down to individual pieces for voyeuristic and pornographic consumption.

One might try to rationalise this away as a reflection of the actress’ status as a sex symbol. However, the bizarre treatment of Sweeney’s body online, which consists of hyper fixation, dissection and fetishisation, reveals just how deeply misogyny and abuse are ingrained in online culture.

Thus, X’s new policy, supposedly aimed at enhancing the freedom of users, in reality, infringes on the freedom of young women and girls, creating an environment where digital violence and exploitation thrive unchecked.

Dr McGlynn continued: “While X proclaims to protect free speech, its actions have the opposite effect. Online abuse inhibits particularly the freedom of expression of women and girls who are silenced by abuse and the threat of abuse, as well as other marginalised and vulnerable communities. Deepfake sexual abuse is an ever-present threat now in the lives of women and girls. X is making this reality worse.”

It is true that celebrity and entertainment content are fodder for public consumption, but Musk’s controversial new policies have allowed for especially the sexual variety to become a tool for violence and exploitation.

After X allowed the regular circulation of pornography without considering the internet’s insatiable appetite for reducing women to their physical attributes, we’ve seen an increase in users stripping away women’s humanity for the sake of clicks, likes, and views.

Sydney Sweeney isn’t just merely being objectified right now, she’s being nonconsensually commodified, turned into a viral spectacle that exists solely for the gratification of anonymous users. This isn’t fandom; it’s digital dehumanisation on a massive scale, and it’s a stark reminder of the internet’s darkest tendencies, ones that are now reigning freely on X.