Errored Out

When searching for Swift on the site, a message appears that says: "Something went wrong. Try reloading."
X blocks searches for Taylor Swift after explicit AI images of her go viral

Of course, nothing "went wrong." As the headline notes, X was actively blocking searches for "Taylor Swift" in an effort to suppress generative "A.I."-created nude images purported to be of the superstar singer. So... why not simply say that? A message that reads "Due to a spike in inappropriate activity connected to the search terms you have entered, we have declined to complete the search at this time," would get the point across, be broadly applicable to a wide range of situations and not hint at what people aren't supposed to be searching for (on the off chance that people don't already know what they want to find). And it's not a bald lie.

Of course, companies are in a bit of a bind here. While I suspect that the real reason why X.com is lying to users is that since the error message pops up when there are actual errors, pressing it into service when the company simply declines to carry out a request is the path of least resistance. The alternative I suggested above would take some time to put into place, since there are so many stakeholders (including lawyers) who would need to sign off on it; and for that to happen, it would need to have almost zero chance of blowback. And, in American society today, white lies tend to have much less chance of blowback than even seemingly innocuous truths.