How to See Sensitive Content on Twitter (X) in 2026

To see sensitive content on Twitter (X), log in on x.com, go to More, Settings and privacy, Privacy and safety, then Content you see, and check Display media that may contain sensitive content. On Android, the same box is in the app under Privacy and safety. On iPhone, X’s help center says to change it on x.com, and the setting then applies in the app too. You also need a birth date on your profile showing you’re 18 or older, and in some countries X may ask you to verify your age.

Search has its own filter, so if sensitive posts still don’t appear in search results, you’ll need to turn off Hide sensitive content in your search settings as well. This guide covers both settings on every device, the age rules that apply in 2026, why some posts keep their warning, how to mark your own media as sensitive, and how to turn everything off again.

What X means by “sensitive content”

X uses “sensitive media” for images and videos that some people may not want to see, mainly adult nudity and sexual content and graphic violence. These posts aren’t removed. Instead, X places them behind a warning that you click through, or hides them entirely depending on your settings.

Since May 2024, X’s Adult Content policy allows consensually produced adult content as long as it’s labeled with a content warning and kept out of highly visible places such as profile photos and banners. Much of what people mean by sensitive content on X is that labeled material, but the same warning can also cover violent news footage or medical images.

The setting described in this guide only controls whether labeled media is shown to you. It doesn’t unlock content that breaks X’s rules, and it doesn’t show you posts from protected accounts you don’t follow.

How to see sensitive content on x.com (web)

These steps follow X’s help center page on controlling sensitive media:

1. Log in on x.com and click More in the side menu.
2. Click Settings and privacy.
3. Click Privacy and safety.
4. Under Content you see, check the box next to Display media that may contain sensitive content.

X says the change saves automatically. This works in a phone browser too, which is the easiest route for iPhone users.

How to see sensitive content on Android

1. Tap your profile icon or the navigation menu icon at the top of the app, whichever you see.
2. Tap Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Privacy and safety.
4. Under Safety, check the box next to Display media that may contain sensitive content.

How to see sensitive content on iPhone

X’s help center doesn’t give iPhone app steps for this setting. It says iOS users should adjust it by logging in on x.com and following the web steps above:

1. Open Safari or another browser and go to x.com.
2. Log in with the same account you use in the app.
3. Follow the web steps: More, Settings and privacy, Privacy and safety, Content you see.
4. Check Display media that may contain sensitive content.
5. Close and reopen the X app.

Because the setting belongs to your account, not your device, it carries over to the app. There is one iPhone-specific limit, though: X’s help center says that posts placed behind a sensitive-media warning can’t be clicked through in X for iOS. If the setting is on and a post still shows a warning you can’t tap past, open that post on x.com instead.

How to see sensitive content in X search

Search results are filtered separately by X’s safe search. According to X’s help center, it excludes potentially sensitive content and accounts you’ve muted or blocked. To change it:

1. On x.com, search for anything.
2. On the results page, click the More icon (three dots) next to the search box.
3. Click Search settings.
4. Uncheck Hide sensitive content. You can also uncheck Remove blocked and muted accounts if you want those to appear.

X says the change can take several minutes to apply, and that it covers searches on the web, in the iPhone app and on Android. As with the media setting, X’s help center says to change it on x.com rather than in the iPhone app.

Setting	Where	What it controls
Display media that may contain sensitive content	Privacy and safety, Content you see (web) or Safety (Android)	Whether labeled media shows in your timeline and on posts
Hide sensitive content	Search settings on x.com	Whether sensitive posts appear in search results
Remove blocked and muted accounts	Search settings on x.com	Whether accounts you blocked or muted appear in search
Mark media you post as containing material that may be sensitive	Privacy and safety, Your posts	Whether your own media carries a warning

Age requirements: birth date and age verification

Turning the setting on isn’t enough if X thinks you might be under 18.

Your birth date. X’s help center says people under 18, and people who haven’t added a birth date to their profile, can’t view adult content. To add one, open your profile, tap Edit profile, then Birth date, and enter your real date of birth. X’s help center says the visibility of birth dates added after January 2022 defaults to private, and that you can only change the visibility setting a limited number of times. Enter it accurately; X says the birth date must be that of the person running the account.

Age assurance in the UK, EU and Australia. X’s help center says it’s required by laws including the UK’s Online Safety Act, Ireland’s Online Safety Code, the EU Digital Services Act and Australia’s Online Safety Act to verify or estimate whether users are 18 or older before giving them access to certain content. News reports at the time dated the rollout to July 2025. According to its help center, X first looks at signals it already has, such as:

• a previously completed X ID verification,
• an account created in 2012 or earlier,
• a gold or grey checkmark or legacy verification,
• an age estimate based on your email address or phone number.

If none of those settle it, X asks you to choose between facial age estimation from a live selfie and ID verification with a government-issued document. Until X can confirm you’re 18 or over, its help center says you may not be able to access sensitive media, and users found to be under 18 are kept in the restricted settings. If you think X got your age wrong, the help center says you can challenge the decision by contacting X Support in the app or on the website.

Other countries. X’s help center names the UK, Ireland, the EU and Australia. Several US states have passed their own age-verification laws, and the rules keep changing, so whether you’re asked to prove your age depends on where you are.

Why some posts still show a warning

If the setting is on and you’re over 18 but a post is still hidden, one of these is usually the reason:

• You’re in the iPhone app. X says you can’t click through sensitive-media warnings on iOS. Open the post on x.com.
• Your age isn’t confirmed. No birth date, a birth date under 18, or a pending age check in the UK, EU or Australia keeps adult content locked.
• You muted a word or blocked the account. X hides posts that contain your muted words, and posts from muted or blocked accounts shared by others, behind a notice you can click through. Our guide on how to mute words on X shows how to review your list.
• You reported the post. X hides posts you’ve reported behind a notice.
• It breaks the rules. X may keep some rule-breaking posts up behind a notice when it judges them to be in the public interest, or hide posts that are waiting to be removed.
• It’s withheld in your country. X may block a post or account in a specific country after a valid legal request, and says it marks such content in the app.
• The account is protected. Posts from protected accounts are only visible to approved followers. See how to make an X account private for how that works.

You’ll also sometimes see a warning on a whole profile. X’s help center says accounts that mark all their media as sensitive may show visitors a message asking them to confirm before viewing, unless the visitor has opted in to see sensitive content. If videos aren’t loading at all rather than showing a warning, the cause is usually something else; our X video not playing guide covers those fixes.

How to mark your own media as sensitive

If you post anything that could fall under X’s sensitive media rules, label it yourself. X’s help center describes two ways.

For a single post (all devices)

1. Attach the photo or video to your post.
2. Open the edit view for the media and tap or click the flag icon.
3. Choose Nudity, Violence or Sensitive, then post as normal.

For everything you post

1. Go to Settings and privacy, then Privacy and safety.
2. Tap Your posts.
3. Turn on Mark media you post as containing material that may be sensitive.

Skipping this has consequences. X’s help center says that if your unlabeled media is reported and found to be sensitive, X may label it, switch the account-wide setting on for you, and add a label to your account; repeated mislabeling can make that permanent. X’s Adult Content policy also bans adult content in profile photos, headers, live video, List banners and Community cover photos. Violations there have to be removed, and repeat violations can put an account in read-only mode or get it suspended.

How to turn off sensitive content on Twitter

To go back to the safer default, reverse both settings:

1. Media: On x.com, go to More, Settings and privacy, Privacy and safety, Content you see, and uncheck Display media that may contain sensitive content. On Android, uncheck it under Privacy and safety, Safety.
2. Search: On x.com, open a search, click the More icon, choose Search settings, and check Hide sensitive content again.

Both changes apply to your account on every device, including the iPhone app. If you want to filter more than media, muting words and accounts is the next step.

Parents should know that X doesn’t rely on these switches alone for teenagers: in the countries covered by age assurance, X’s help center says users determined to be under 18 are kept in the restricted settings regardless.

Key takeaways

• Turn on Display media that may contain sensitive content under Privacy and safety on x.com (Content you see) or Android (Safety).
• On iPhone, change the setting on x.com; it then applies in the app, but X says some warnings can’t be clicked through on iOS.
• Search has a separate Hide sensitive content filter under Search settings on x.com.
• You need a birth date showing you’re 18 or older, and in the UK, EU, Ireland and Australia, X may ask for a selfie age estimate or ID.
• Label your own sensitive media with the flag icon, or mark all your media under Privacy and safety, Your posts.
• To turn sensitive content off, uncheck the media setting and recheck Hide sensitive content in search.