Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman denies viewing pornography on flight after viral photos surface online

"Why did California Congressman Brad Sherman feel it was appropriate to look at porn on his iPad during a flight today?" one X post said.

The post had amassed 12.4 million views as of Saturday evening.

Sherman denied the allegations, and a spokesperson for the congressman told Fox News Digital the pictures appeared because of his algorithm on X, formerly Twitter.

"This was nothing more than scrolling through Twitter, and, unfortunately, Elon Musk has ruined the Twitter algorithm to give people content that they don't ask for or subscribe to," a spokesperson for Sherman told Fox News Digital in an email.

Sherman similarly told Punchbowl News the images appeared on his X feed under the "For You" section of X, a page that shows recommended content.

"If you have to fly across the country, you look at a lot of stuff on your tablet," he said.

"If I see a picture of a woman, might I look at it longer than a sunset? Yeah."

The images quickly drew widespread reactions across social media.

Firing back at Donald Trump Jr., Sherman posted an edited version of the photo showing his iPad screen replaced with the words, "Release the Epstein files."

Mace recently demanded the resignation of Charleston Airport CEO Elliot Summey and threatened legal action after airport officials accused her of mistreating staff.

X did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.