Oct 09, 2022 12:00:00

Tumblr, which has completely banned adult content, is now showing a deregulation attitude

by

Scott Beale

Tumblr , a microblogging service, has changed its terms of service to completely ban adult-oriented content in the wake of the suspension of handling on the App Store due to child pornography content. However, it turned out that the number of user visits decreased by 150 million in just two months. Such Tumblr is showing a movement to relax the regulation of content for adults.

Tumblr Staff — Introducing: Community Labels As you know, art and...
https://staff.tumblr.com/post/696482214233440256/introducing-community-labels-as-you-know-art-and

Tumblr adds new filters and hints at looser moderation rules - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/27/23374892/tumblr-automattic-porn-ban-adult-content-policy-potential-change-community-labels-tagging

It all started when Tumblr's iOS app suddenly disappeared from Apple's App Store in November 2018. It is said that this was considered a violation of the App Store's terms because there were many blogs posting adult content on Tumblr.

Tumblr's iOS app disappears from the App Store, is it due to inappropriate content - GIGAZINE

And in December 2018, Tumble announced that it would be completely banning adult content.

Tumblr announces ban on adult content - GIGAZINE

However, on September 27, 2022, Tumblr's official blog announced that it would add a new filtering feature called 'Community Labels'. Tumblr introduced the community label in three categories: 'drug and alcohol addiction,' 'age-restricted movie violence,' and 'sexual themes, including erotic text and images.' We asked users to tag sentences and images with relevant content.

Posts using this community label will be labeled 'mature' and will be blurred or hidden entirely, depending on the viewer's content settings. In addition to being hidden for users under the age of 18, the filtering itself is an opt-out type, so if you want to see the content, you need to manually change the settings.

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, Tumblr's parent company and WordPress operator, said community labels are the first step for the Tumblr project. ``We haven't updated Tumblr's official content policy yet, but we hope to match it with WordPress policy in the near future,'' Mullenweg said.

According to IT news site The Verge, CEO Mullenweg said in March 2022, ``Tumblr is not a place for pornography, but we want to open up the rules of the site somewhat.Artists have more freedom on the site. It should be,' he said. Adoption of this community label could therefore reverse a blanket ban on adult content that was implemented in 2018. However, this time, sexual content is only permitted, and it remains unclear to what extent the ban on ``depiction of sexually explicit acts'' will be lifted.