Tumblr is Going to Ban All Adult Content Come December 17

In a move that should definitely surprise some people, Tumblr is going to permanently ban all sorts of adult content from the site. Pretty much destroying one of the main reasons why people even bother to go there. Well, more so artists than anyone else, really. At least from what I am seeing in Twitter and that one article on Nerdist.

I've already seen some artists tweet that their blogs were marked as nsfw and deleted. if they're going to do a massive purge of existing nsfw content, I doubt they will exercise much discretion and will be haphazard about it

— ♡ JV ♡ (@javi_draws) December 3, 2018

For some reason YET AGAIN we feel like mentioning today that NSFW content is allowed on https://t.co/ejXsnBEUAB and always has been!

— Newgrounds.com (@Newgrounds) December 3, 2018

Now, the reason why this is being done was because of a child pornography incident the Social Network was involved in a few weeks ago. The Tumblr app was effectively removed from Apple’s App Store because of this incident and it’s very likely that this is done so the app is readmitted into the App Store once again.

Banned content includes photos, videos, and GIFs of human genitalia, female-presenting nipples, and any media involving sex acts, including illustrations. The exceptions include nude classical statues and political protests that feature nudity. This media will be sorted out by a bot that is definitely horrible at doing its one job.

A collection of stuff on my Tumblr that is now labeled nsfw lol pic.twitter.com/IDfTl3oqge

— AnhDang (@anhdangerous) December 3, 2018

So, yea #tumblr really is serious about its #nsfwcontent pic.twitter.com/EkBextj00m

— Aryla_white (@ArylaWhite) December 3, 2018

Your eyes are not deceiving you, people. A freaking vest is considered as “Too lewd” for Tumblr. This is asinine in almost every way shape or form and it definitely is a sign of what’s to come for many Tumblr users in December 17.

Now, with this outlandish bot flagging almost everything as “Adult”. I’m beginning to wonder just what’s going to happen to artists who maybe don’t go for sex and nudity but go for things such as violence and horror.

Some people shouldn’t forget that this is also the moment where the last mainstream Social Network has enforced a policy against explicit content. In other words, there is no safety in the mainstream Social network platforms anymore. What this change means for the future of the internet remains to be seen.

One thing’s for sure though. This is definitely the beginning of the end for Tumblr.