Tumblr will ban all 'adult content' from December 17th

4 December 2018, 14:10

By Katie Louise Smith

@_katesss

The new guidelines explicitly state that all pornographic videos, GIFs and illustrations will be banned alongside... "female-presenting nipples."

Last week, the Tumblr app was removed from the App Store because it failed to filter out child pornography. Following the removal, The Verge reported that the company's “top priority" was to get the app back on in to the store. Now, presumably in response to the removal of the app, they have announced that they will be banning and removing any and all 'adult content' from the site.

In a new set of guidelines released yesterday, the site said: "Starting Dec 17, adult content will not be allowed on Tumblr, regardless of how old you are. 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."

As we all know, Tumblr is full of porn (some illegal and harmful), but it's also a place where artists were able to express themselves, find themselves and share their NSFW fan art, writing and photography. The complete ban on certain aspects of the content will undoubtably see a massive drop in users and will forever change how the site is used.

Twitter is now responding in the only way they know how... through the art of memes and backlash.

People are also already complaining that the aggressive algorithm that's been set in place is now flagging posts that don't even violate the new guidelines.

(Artists and blog owners are given the option to appeal their flagged posts.)

People are also calling Tumblr out for specifically singling out 'female-presenting nipples'.

In the new guidelines, "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," will still be allowed.

A variety of male nipples are presumably still cool to post without being flagged.

Written content such as erotica (good news for the fan fic writers out there), nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, such as sculptures and illustrations, are all things that will still be able to be freely posted on Tumblr.

While the ban has pissed off a lot of users, Tumblr CEO Jeff D’Onofrio has highlighted the reason why the content is being removed in a statement: "Let’s first be unequivocal about something that should not be confused with today’s policy change: posting anything that is harmful to minors, including child pornography, is abhorrent and has no place in our community."

"We’ve always had and always will have a zero tolerance policy for this type of content."