One of the web's most popular and relatively racy blogging platforms says it will no longer host any adult content or nude imagery, with very limited exceptions, starting this month.
On Monday, Tumblr announced in a blog post that adult content "will no longer be allowed here,” including explicit sexual content and most of cases of nudity. Starting in two weeks, on December 17, any explicit posts on the platform will be flagged and deleted by algorithms, according to the company.
According to new adult content guidelines outlined by Tumblr, the kind of content it's looking to ban "primarily includes photos, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content—including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations—that depicts sex acts."
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In the decade or so since its founding, Tumblr has served as a major hub for users and communities wishing to share adult content via social, despite periodic pressure to reign in its content.
As the Verge reported, however, in the time since Verizon took it over in 2017, "Tumblr has been cleaning up its platform more rapidly ... In August, Tumblr announced new community guidelines that banned revenge porn, hate speech, and posts that glorified school shootings."
Last month, the Tumblr app was also removed from the Apple Store after child pornography was reportedly detected on the platform.
It seems lots of people here are talking about @Tumblr given the news on their decision to ramp up the censorship there under the @Verizon ownership. This sorta feels like the final nail in the coffin in an already-dying social media platform. https://t.co/uzMZNT18Bo
— Shah Selbe (@shahselbe) December 3, 2018
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Tumblr CEO Jeff D'Onofrio emphasized in a blog post Monday that users will still have other options for displaying explicit content online after the December 17 change, which has apparently been a long time coming.
"We spent considerable time weighing the pros and cons of expression in the community that includes adult content. In doing so, it became clear that without this content we have the opportunity to create a place where more people feel comfortable expressing themselves," D'Onofrio wrote.
"Bottom line: There are no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content. We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community."
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The company's new guidelines for adult content note that female-presenting nipples exposed "in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery," are examples of the kind of nudity the site will allow.
Meanwhile, written adult content such as erotica, and political protest-related or newsworthy nudity (plus artistic, non-photographic depictions of it, sans the sex act), will still be permitted. Users can appeal Tumblr's decision if they think an error has been made, but given the size of the potential exodus underway, they may have to wait a while.
Currently, Tumblr is emailing users to notify them that their flagged explicit content will no longer be visible after December 17, the company wrote. Porn-sharing blogs that are set to private will reportedly still get heavily edited in the purge, though users who host explicit blogs can choose to export the full content ahead of time.
[h/t The Verge]
