The Dark Age has begun for Tumblr. Starting today, Dec. 17, adult content is no longer allowed on the site. That’s right: no titty, no bepis, and certainly no female-presenting nipples.
In a post today, Tumblr announced that it will “start hiding—not deleting—posts that contain GIFs, videos, and photos from public view that are in violation of our policy.” The site says it will “flag more adult content” over the “coming weeks,” and there is an appeal process for flagged posts.
A quick visit to Tumblr reveals that NSFW search terms and phrases are largely blocked on the site. For instance, searching “BDSM,” “femdom,” “domme,” and “girldick” provide no NSFW results. Certain kink and fetish tags, however, made it past the ban. Posts related to or tagged with “feederism” and “giantess” still made it through, but there are no posts available for “ahegao,” “DDLG,” and “inflation” fetishes, among others.
Daily Dot writer Gavia Baker-Whitelaw considered the ban “very effective” in censoring adult content.
“I just tested some NSFW Tumblr tags (all blocked, as of today) but ironically found my first example of the infamous Female Presenting Nipple on a Nazi tag (not blocked),” Baker-Whitelaw tweeted.
it does seem like the ban is v effective, i couldn’t find anything NSFW via obvious keywords or fanart tags. i’m curious to see what tumblr’s traffic is like in the coming weeks.
— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) December 17, 2018
Adult content was a significant part of Tumblr’s appeal. A January 2017 study revealed that approximately 30 million Tumblr users out of 130 million surveyed were “consuming adult content” by either “re-sharing it or following the accounts of those producers,” Motherboard reports. Another 40 million users, or 28 percent, accidentally saw porn on Tumblr through their dashboard, meaning there were relatively few degrees of separation between NSFW and SFW users. Meanwhile, women aged 20 to 25 were looking at porn at a higher rate than young men, suggesting the crackdown is impacting women more than any other group.
All of that is to say that adult content played a major role in Tumblr’s content ecosystem, whether users came to the site for porn or not. Twitter is responding to the ban in an incredibly expected way: creating memes mourning Tumblr’s “death.”
“Today is the Day Tumblr officially dies ladies and gents,” Twitter user RiseFallNick tweeted along with a Beavis and Butt-Head meme.
https://twitter.com/RiseFallNick/status/1074546355727679489
https://twitter.com/ChrisinLiberty/status/1074660030543208448
https://twitter.com/ChrisinLiberty/status/1074667544672374785
https://twitter.com/rhiannon1307/status/1074663648033947649
https://twitter.com/ChaztheWeasel/status/1074698286911631360
https://twitter.com/TheArtHoeWithT1/status/1074695235182092288
RIP horny Tumblr
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) December 17, 2018
(February 2007-December 2018) pic.twitter.com/HAoUMv8u2t
Then there’s the Log Off Protest, a 24-hour boycott in which Tumblr users leave the site to protest the NSFW ban. Alongside posting their frustrations in the hashtags #tumblrlogoff and #logoffprotest, Tumblr users are sharing plenty of memes on Twitter criticizing the adult content ban.
https://twitter.com/logoffprotest/status/1074065461443211265
OMG this is just so sexual, I can see how this violates the community. 🙄 #TumblrLogOff pic.twitter.com/4d9MuLjiVV
— destiney bleu (@destineybleu) December 17, 2018
#Tumblr how’s this for female presenting nipples #tumblrlogoff pic.twitter.com/PRNm2eoTiv
— Momo (@BeSiLiFo) December 17, 2018
#Tumblr on 17th December 2018, colourised#logoffprotest pic.twitter.com/PtW8Ok3paS
— You (@Blufox234) December 17, 2018
tumblr out here with the best joke of 2018: pic.twitter.com/oZ6nbfgC1Q
— 🧸tina ♑︎ ¹²⁷ (@polluxhyucks) December 17, 2018
The end is near…#logoff2018 #tumblr #TumblrLogOff #tumblrpurge pic.twitter.com/YOQKWdyCPD
— Gotchi (@gotchi_art) December 17, 2018
Others pointed out that, like Baker-Whitelaw tweeted, porn is gone but fascism is alive and well on the site.
https://twitter.com/RiseFallNick/status/1074555418440028160
https://twitter.com/ntrlbrnloser/status/1074681863464206336
https://twitter.com/rhiannon1307/status/1074663869069578243
Whether you loved or hated Tumblr, a major part of the internet died today. RIP, porn-friendly Tumblr. You’ll be missed.
https://twitter.com/calvinstowell/status/1074463668287483914
Today, we mourn the loss of female presenting nipples, but celebrate their legacy.. #tumblr
— Nicole Maines (@NicoleAMaines) December 17, 2018
