Tumblr’s nudity ban removes one of the last major refuges for pornography on social media (washingtonpost.com).
Tumblr announced Monday that it will ban nearly all nudity from its platform, ending one of social media’s last major refuges for explicit sexual images.
Although it could be argued Twitter with the only restriction on adult content being a “potentially sensitive content” warning and insistence on giving it your mobile number for “security” to stymie the trolling and abuse up until recently they cared little to do bugger all about fits the social media porn “refuge” bill too, but then again tweeting on that platform requires 280 character conciseness and perhaps a degree of masochism average tumblrs lack, at least until they need to complain about something regards Tumblr.
Porn and Tumblr having gone together like hotdog and bun since its inception with a sizable erotic fandom and just pure tittie and ass appreciation community sharing all aspects, and when bought out by Yahoo back in 2013 (Pick of the Week 21st May 2013) speculation at the time that porn would be banished was soothed by promise “not to screw it up” before the perpetually ill-fated and outdated web service provider sold it at a loss to Verizon in 2017. But perhaps the annoying “safe mode” introduced mid-last year (motherboard.vice.com, Feb. 2018) requiring an account in which you could switch it off to view the “sensitive” content perhaps was a sign of things to come.
On Monday CEO Jeff D’Onofrio somewhat sanctimoniously wrote in his blog—that likely few if any tumblrs read—that “There are no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content” and “We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community”, and with attempt to ensure anything even remotely porny is rephrased as with “female presenting nipples” description in what they are banning (whatstrending.com).
And not giving long for microbloggers to clean house with December 17th set as date of #NoPorn, or at least #NoTumblrFap. So what changed?
The decision comes just weeks after Apple dropped the company’s software from the App Store after child pornography was found on the site, raising questions about whether Tumblr’s decision was related.
With it noted by Vice Motherboard that Apple’s aversion to pornography on its platforms is responsible for a “broad homogenizing and sanitizing effect on the internet” that in reality will only drive it straight to the porn tubes that ridiculously are being considered to run the British Board of Film Classification’s X-rated age check scheme (Blog 7th Jul. 2018:
The site noted the declining number of websites that support pornography and nudity, writing that “much of that attitude has grown out of Apple’s strict controls over the App Store and the iOS ecosystem.”
Leading to the question of whether Tumblr is really that out of touch with its user base in its desperation to recover its popularity and turn itself into another Pinterest and marketing vehicle “safe space” for adolescent swifties (independent.co.uk, 9th Nov. 2018) who‘ve doubtless peeked at whats trying to be hid under virtual carpet already. Taking to social media—perhaps as much a reason for the anti-porn “sanitising effect” as any particular app store—as well as the platform itself tumblrs chuntered, but indeed highlighted the irony with web analytics service SimilarWeb reporting in 2017 that adult content was the top driver for Tumblr traffic:
“What a lousy decision,” the writer Roxane Gay posted on Twitter. “Adult content is the only reason I use Tumblr.”
Similar protest reversed Google’s decided to ban porn from Blogger a few years back (Latest Picks 23rd Feb. 2015) but despite getting more press attention will it do any good to convince a platform described in the summer as being a “joyless black hole” gaining “a reputation for creators being driven away” (kotaku.com, Jul. 2018).
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