Tumblr announced this week it will ban content featuring nudity from its platform, starting December 17.
Tumblr says it’s banning “adult content” from its platform in order to make “a better, more positive” place, but the policy change has some users abandoning the site.
The new policy goes into effect December 17, and will result in the deletion of any content portraying “real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples,” Tumblr, a Verizon-owned company, said in its announcement.
Reaction to Tumblr’s announcement has been swift and critical across social media. More than 423,000 people have already signed a Change.org petition to “make Tumblr rescind their adult content ban.”
Tumblr says that child pornography was the reason for its app’s sudden disappearance from the iOS App Store. The app has been missing from the store since November 16th, but until now the reason for its absence was unclear — initially Tumblr simply said it was “working to resolve the issue with the iOS app.” However, after Download.com approached Tumblr with sources claiming that the reason was related to the discovery of child pornography on the service, the Yahoo-owned social media network issued a new statement confirming the matter.
And now, with Tumblr acting like the Porn Stealing Grinch before Christmas for users, some are wondering if the website–around more than ten years–is going to be hit with the same fate as another former amazing site for creativity: LIVE JOURNAL.
But if TUMBLR goes, users are going to take it down in the same fashion they used it in: With perceptive and incredible memes with social commentary:
