Tumblr'due south history is not free of controversy—specially when it comes to changes over its content policies over the years.

The site is ane of the virtually famous spaces for social justice and progressive idea on the spider web; but has also taken reeled in what it allows on the platform significantly over the years.

Here are a few pivotal moments to retrieve in Tumblr history...

2012: Tumblr Looks at Self-Impairment Blogs and Launches PSAs

A scale.

In one substantial endeavor against triggering sensitive content, the Tumblr staff took a stand up confronting the promotion of self-impairment and eating disorders. The platform was conscientious to clarify that the move was not meant to target people with mental illness, but to prevent the glorification of unsafe behaviors.

The team wasn't perma-banning anybody who continued to postal service this content, but rather included public service resources interspersed throughout the search results for relevant keywords similar "thinspiration".

This Tumblr policy alter is considered by many to be a highlight in the Tumblr legacy as a whole. Information technology was a results-oriented solution that sought to break a cycle.

Instead of being met only with images of self-harm or extremely thin women, users were seeing viable and relevant resources in exactly the right identify.

2018: The Tumblr Adult Content Ban

On December iii, 2018, Tumblr banned adult content. This site-broad ban that had many longtime users up in arms. It's known colloquially every bit "the Great Purge of 2018". If you lot were there to see information technology, we do not need to explain why.

Tumblr wasn't necessarily an developed content outlet before this policy change, only many loved the platform for the progressive, empowering attitude of the community when it came to things like sexuality.

Overnight, Tumblr became an entirely new place. The blanket ban shut the door on all types of adult imagery—videos, photos, GIFs, and fifty-fifty explicit drawings. Many educational images depicting anatomy were being flagged unfairly; even content completely unrelated to sex was targeted for containing things similar rainbow flags.

Blogs establish in violation past the Tumblr team were set up to private automatically, and many innocent accounts were but terminated outright. Life on Tumblr has never been the same since.

2021: The New Tumblr iOS Rules

An iPhone booting up.

Just before the adult content ban, the Tumblr iOS app was really removed from the Apple App Store. In 2021, the company took preventative action to avoid existence removed again.

Tumblr'south new policy for its iOS app censors content using a long listing of flagged keywords and phrases—we won't link to it here (information technology's pretty heavy), just you can find it on Google hands. Some items on the list, like slurs and other harmful linguistic communication in detail, are included for obvious reasons.

But others, such equally sexual puns or euphemisms associated with things like narcotic use, have some bloggers biting back. The purpose of this overhaul is to forbid young users from accessing inappropriate or sensitive content through the app.

Banned words on the listing at present yield limited search results, preventing the posts that they're fastened to from ever seeing the calorie-free of day.

Longtime fans have been quick to telephone call out the fact that much of this listing will do nothing but filter out totally harmless cloth, as well as posts that may otherwise terminate up being a life-saving resources for some users in peril. Tags like "binge", "PTSD", and "mental illness" are being flagged along with the rest.

Tumblr has e'er been an incredibly supportive community for those struggling with mental illness and isolation, however. The biggest business organization is that this new policy will limit the conversation surrounding these topics on the platform.

Tumblr Censorship: Public Discourse Volition Never Be the Same

Were whatever of these Tumblr policy changes justified? We'll let yous be the judge of that. Even Tumblr'due south harshest critics can probably adjure to the value of a social blogging environs devoid of harmful triggers, imagery, and content.

It's an experience that ends up being much more enjoyable for everybody involved.

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Emma Garofalo (379 Articles Published)

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