In an email response, a Tumblr spokesperson directed Vox back to the staff announcement, including the staff’s acknowledgment that “filtering this type of content versus say, a political protest with nudity or the statue of David, is not simple at scale. As Motherboard wrote on Monday in its breakdown of the Tumblr situation, “Apple has repeatedly leveraged its unprecedented power over millions of smartphones to sanitize the apps that are available on iPhones.”
Yet despite last month’s initial purge, the app has still not been restored to the iOS store, in what seems to be a clear “fix this or else” ultimatum from Apple that has almost certainly prompted the current crisis. This led to a sitewide crackdown on pornography that left many users complaining that their NSFW blogs had been unfairly purged in the sweep. In November, Apple banned Tumblr’s official app from the iOS store because of reported child pornography on the platform. On the one hand, it’s easy to see why Tumblr, now in its 11th year as a social media platform known for “reblogs” and image-heavy content, made this move: It seems very likely Apple forced its hand. Discussion of the ban consumed social media throughout the weeks leading up to the ban, and users responded with a mixture of outrage, worry, and funny memes. The ban covers many categories of adult content across the site, including “photos, videos, or GIFs” displaying explicit material, as well as “illustrations that sex acts.”Īfter December 17, all existing posts flagged by Tumblr’s censors as violating the new policy will be automatically set to private, meaning that no one will be able to see them other than the blog’s creator.ĭebate has raged about what effect the ban will have on Tumblr’s user base, given how much of the community involves erotica and the use of explicit imagery. A controversial adult content ban took effect across Tumblr on Monday, after two weeks of sustained user outrage and internet-wide fears that this would mean the death knell of the platform.
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