A senior Democrat congressman has found himself at the centre of a political storm after being photographed viewing explicit images of scantily-clad women during a commercial flight.
The Mile-High Controversy
California Representative Brad Sherman, 71, was captured on camera apparently staring at revealing pictures of women in underwear and bikinis while travelling across the United States. The photographs, which quickly went viral on social media platform X, show the veteran politician with his mouth agape while viewing the content on his tablet with maximum screen brightness.
The images were initially shared by an X user who questioned why the congressman "felt it was appropriate to look at porn on his iPad during a flight." The post garnered millions of views within hours, triggering widespread commentary and mockery across social media platforms.
White House Weighs In
The controversy reached the highest levels of American politics when Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, commented on the incident. Cheung described Sherman as a "total gooner" - American slang referring to someone addicted to explicit content.
Other social media users joined the criticism, with one noting the congressman had the "screen brightness ALL the way up" and showed "not an ounce of shame" in his very public viewing of the material.
The Algorithm Defence
In his defence, Representative Sherman denied having any issues with pornography consumption. The California politician told Punchbowl News that the images appeared on his "For You" page on X and argued that "if you have to fly across the country, you look at a lot of stuff on your tablet."
Sherman offered a somewhat unconventional explanation for his behaviour, stating: "If I see a picture of a woman, might I look at it longer than a sunset? Yeah."
However, critics were quick to point out that X's algorithm customises the "For You" page based on users' previous browsing history and interactions. According to X's Help Centre, the feature "serves posts from accounts and Topics you follow as well as recommended posts" and might suggest content based on "how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it."
Mixed Reactions and Historical Parallels
While many social media users condemned Sherman's actions, some came to the elderly statesman's defence. One X user argued: "I never look at the 'for you' suggestions because they are exactly opposite of my interests." Another supporter claimed: "I have 100% stuff I hate on my For You page. No one I follow, no one I agree with or like."
The incident bears similarities to a 2022 UK political scandal where former Tory MP Neil Parish resigned after admitting he watched pornography twice in the House of Commons. Parish initially claimed he had been searching for tractors and "did get into another website that had a very similar name," but later confessed to deliberately viewing explicit content during what he called "a moment of madness."
As the controversy continues to develop, it raises broader questions about personal conduct in public spaces and the reliability of algorithmic content recommendations on social media platforms.
