Tumblr has announced it will permanently ban adult content from its platform.
‘Starting Dec 17, adult content will not allowed on Tumblr, regardless of how old you are,’ the firm said.
The announcement comes just days after Tumblr was removed from Apple’s iOS App Store over child pornography issues.
Tumblr’s mysterious disappearance from the App Store was a result of images posted to its platform dealing with child pornography. The app hasn’t yet returned to the App Store
The iOS app has been absent from Apple’s App Store since November 16th, but the firm had refused to say why.
CEO Jeff D’Onofrio says the firm weighed the pros and cons thoroughly before making its decision, and said users who still wanted to look at porn had ‘no shortage’ of other places to visit.
It said the ban includes ‘Adult content 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.’
However, it promised there were some exceptions.
‘Examples of exceptions that are still permitted are exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.
‘Written content such as erotica, nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, such as sculptures and illustrations, are also stuff that can be freely posted on Tumblr.’
After December 17th, any explicit posts will be flagged and deleted by algorithms.
Tumblr is emailing users who have posted adult content flagged by algorithms and notifying them that their content will soon be hidden from view.
Posts with porn content will be set to private, which will prevent them from being reblogged or shared elsewhere in the Tumblr community.
Since Tumblr was founded in 2007, it has allowed most adult content, althoug has tried to shield it from public view through Safe Mode and more stringent search filters.
However, since coming under the control of Verizon’s Oath unit it has been mulling a change of direction.
‘We’ve given serious thought to who we want to be to our community moving forward,’ CEO Jeff D’Onofrio said in a blog post.
‘We’ve realized that in order to continue to fulfill our promise and place in culture, especially as it evolves, we must change.’
CEO Jeff D’Onofrio says Tumblr weighed the pros and cons thoroughly before making its decision, and said users who still wanted to look at porn had ‘no shortage’ of other places to visit.
‘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,’ he said.