Twitter Blue subscribers can now download videos posted to X

Starting today, Twitter Blue members can download videos shared on X by other subscribers. That’s according to an update to an X Help Center article titled “How to share and watch videos on Twitter.”

The update says all new videos will be eligible for downloads unless the poster specifically opts out. There’s also an age limit — if your “account is under the age of 18,” then downloads won’t be turned on. (Presumably, that means any person whose account says they’re under 18.)

And of course, if your Twitter Blue-subscribing account is set to private, no one other than subscribers you’ve allowed to follow you can see the video, let alone download it. To opt out of having your videos be downloadable, you can do that on a per-tweet basis — there is no persistent setting mentioned on the page.

Beyond those cases, there are no limitations mentioned for video downloads. Considering that X now allows up to two-hour-long videos to be uploaded by Twitter Blue subscribers — which has already been kind of a problem for the company, as when users were able to watch the entirety of this year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie — it seems as though the site is setting itself up for legal trouble unless it can get its moderation capability spun up to properly handle copyrighted materials.

Musk has been working to make his platform more appealing to creators by implementing other changes like ad revenue sharing. Adding video downloads puts X more in line with other shortform social networks like TikTok and Instagram, which both allow users to download videos, for instance.