Adult content returns to Tumblr

September 26, 2022 5:37 PM

...as an opt-in setting, with community flagging and human review. Here's the staff post about it.

Previously:
Tumblr Bans Reason Most People Have Heard of Tumblr
Bought on a whim, for a song.

posted by subdee (53 comments total)

>_>
<_<
Good.
posted by signsofrain at 5:57 PM on September 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

I just logged in to Tumblr for the first time in ages and scrolled through the first few pages of my feed. No porn, so I logged back out.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:59 PM on September 26, 2022 [9 favorites]

Tumblr users currently in a debate over whether this does mean the adult content is allowed again... It's team meat's back on the menu vs team our content policies have not changed - the staff post is vague - probably on purpose. I suppose we'll see... I think that now that there's a (mandatory) field for DOB and the iOS flag is still running (all the mature content is hidden by default in iOS), tumblr's owners have more legal and financial coverage to bring back the titty gifs and explicit fanart for users who opt-in.
posted by subdee at 6:07 PM on September 26, 2022 [6 favorites]

All the gay men moved to Twitter, which works pretty well as a Tumblr porn replacement. Although I've never set up proper reading access: do most people log in to Twitter with a porn alt account to read / follow / react?
posted by Nelson at 6:08 PM on September 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

Obligatory ProZD skit.

No more male-presenting nipple emojis!
posted by praemunire at 6:15 PM on September 26, 2022 [6 favorites]

See also the College Humor skit.
posted by interogative mood at 6:18 PM on September 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

Twitter's gonna be a ghost town soon!
posted by rednikki at 6:26 PM on September 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Good decision.
posted by rmmcclay at 6:31 PM on September 26, 2022

I don't believe adult content is coming back. The settings refer to sexually suggestive content, not explicit or adult which is the term they used for the ban.
I wish them luck in moderating now that any user can suggest community labels on any post.
posted by oneear at 6:37 PM on September 26, 2022 [3 favorites]

RELEASE THE TITTY
posted by merriment at 6:42 PM on September 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

All I really want to know is: Can I look at "Critique my dick pic" without a Tumblr account?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:17 PM on September 26, 2022

I'm not going to believe it until they change their TOS.

The staff posts contains examples that are suggestive of an upcoming change in policy, if you interpret them to be explicit enough to be currently banned. That's not the only reading, though, and why would they announce this feature and NOT a change in policy if they were intending to change policy?

My pessimistic expectation is that this is really about hiding/filtering content that's potentially objectionable but not against the TOS - that is, it's a way to further sanitize Tumblr.

I also have absolutely no belief whatsoever that there will be meaningful human review.

We'll see how it shakes out, I guess.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:29 PM on September 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

Floyd: "Well that does sound odd.

Smyslov: "Yes, yes. I'm afraid there's going to be a bit of a row about it. Denying the men permission to land is a direct violation of the I.A.S. convention.

Floyd: "Yes. Of course. Of course. Did the crew get back alright?
Smyslov Yes, yes. Fortunately they did.

Floyd: "Oh, I'm glad about that.

Smyslov: Dr. Floyd, at the risk of pressing you on a point you seem reticent to discuss may I ask you a straightforward question?

Floyd: "Oh, well, certainly.

Smyslov: "we found this on Tumblr"
posted by clavdivs at 7:39 PM on September 26, 2022

Went to check the link in the FPP and...jesusfrigginchrist when did tumblr become such a dumpster fire on a tablet? I can’t think of the last site I visited that was so dis-responsive and nervous.

Anyway...Even though I was not able to read the post, I’m gonna venture that this is not about porn returning. Rather, I think this is more about being able to set flags for art that happens to have non-pornographic nudity.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:53 PM on September 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

Although I've never set up proper reading access: do most people log in to Twitter with a porn alt account to read / follow / react?

My local homophobic ethnofascists famously gets their twitter likes exposed regularly so i can at least tell you there's one demographic that practices no such hygiene.
posted by cendawanita at 8:06 PM on September 26, 2022 [7 favorites]

This reverse seems a too little too late - it's certainly not going to save Tumblr, which I think this change successfully skipped a few internet generations.
posted by alex_skazat at 8:27 PM on September 26, 2022

"We should have called this 'the return of the titties update' but my coworkers are cowards." -- an actual Tumblr employee
posted by BiggerJ at 8:58 PM on September 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

Hate to break this to them (and it's probably no surprise to them) but porn never left Tumblr. It just has a short shelf-life and account names change periodically.
posted by ctmf at 8:58 PM on September 26, 2022 [3 favorites]

I do like that it gives me the option to hide, show, or blur like I would filtered tags*, and that you can have different settings for different categories like graphic violence or nudity.

(*Which, frustratingly, only works if people actually bother to tag their posts. I've had to unfollow more than one blog I enjoyed 90% of the time because that 10% just wasn't good for my mental health.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:59 PM on September 26, 2022

There are grown-ass adults who use the word titties?
posted by medusa at 9:02 PM on September 26, 2022

There are grown-ass adults who use the word titties?

To everything there is a season. And from reading this post … it looks like it’s titty season.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:07 PM on September 26, 2022 [24 favorites]

Somewhat less glib response: words for primary secondary (and tertiary??) sex characteristics have imo undergone somewhat of a renaissance and, depending on context and community, most words have some use that’s free of — or ironically appropriating — the sleaze the words used to evoke. Speaking of renaissance … Beyoncé used “tig ol biddies” to great effect on CHURCH GIRL off her most recent record. Language is weird and cool and changing and I’m here for it.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:11 PM on September 26, 2022 [8 favorites]

I'm pleased to see some loosening of the supposedly iron grip against porn for actual users but they could never get rid of the spammy pornbots, so I'm not too hopeful.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:14 PM on September 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

We still get people coming over from TikTok and thinking they have to say "unalive" instead of "kill" or "dead."
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:33 PM on September 26, 2022 [6 favorites]

Anecdotally, my dash is back to porn every other post. Lots and lots of abandoned accounts popping up (heh). I'm cautiously optimistic.
posted by Bottlecap at 9:42 PM on September 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

There are grown-ass adults who use the word titties?

"You know, I find the most erotic part of a woman is the boobies."
— Zapp Brannigan
posted by rhizome at 10:26 PM on September 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

"Titties" reads much more like giggling five year old than any kind of sleaze, to me...
posted by Dysk at 11:22 PM on September 26, 2022

Yes, well, but when will you be able to make a secondary blog your primary blog?
posted by soundofsuburbia at 11:23 PM on September 26, 2022 [6 favorites]

Titties & beer
posted by chavenet at 11:55 PM on September 26, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm really pleased that they're putting in some moderation, although I expect it will be flakey as hell to start and then just wobbly. My kid uses tumblr with me checking in frequently to block and screen, and being able to block a large swathe of what is not appropriate for her is helpful. I'm not going to rely on it but it feels like they recognise a lot of people want different tumblr experiences. But then I actually paid for ad-free browsing and enabled Blaze ads because tumblr in its shambling glory is what I like.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 12:01 AM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've already come across a LOT of Korean blogs with school girl up skirt photos so that's been a charming new thing to deprogram from my dash and explore pages 🤢

I will be honest, though: should a titty cross my path, and I expect one will, I will gaze upon it gladly and respectfully. 😔👍
posted by The Adventure Begins at 12:27 AM on September 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

do most people log in to Twitter with a porn alt account to read / follow / react?

I do, because Twitter feels less private to me. Tumblr exists in this weird liminal space that no one I know ever goes into, so I operate quite differently there.
posted by The Adventure Begins at 12:30 AM on September 27, 2022 [5 favorites]

I am very cautiously optimistic: my guess is that this new setting is an attempt to evade Apple app store content policing while giving users options to self select for content outside of apps. I've seen some complaints about the roll out but haven't got around to digging through the settings myself yet on desktop.

I've never primarily used Tumblr for visual images--mine is full of text conversation--so the porn ban has had very little effect on me, but I do deeply enjoy the ability to control my purely synchronous feed without being forced to grapple with any content recommendations except for Blaze posts -- and those are generally pretty inoffensive. Actually, I had a really cute interaction as a result of Blaze posts on Sunday that is still giving me the warm fuzzies days later (contains cats).
posted by sciatrix at 3:27 AM on September 27, 2022

I'm almost exclusively a desktop user and those settings are live for me now; they are set to block everything by default. I've gone and permitted everything, because I remember the last time they tried to moderate adult content and it went not so goodly, so I'm just gunna open them floodgates.
posted by Jilder at 3:38 AM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I know people who do user research in this area in academia and they will be very interested to hear this. Their conclusions tend to be "don't ban it, just make it easier for people to hide it" so this is quite a notable development.

Calling it 'tagging but with more steps' is a bit harsh. It is tagging but it's also getting everyone to agree on what tag to use.
posted by benoliver999 at 5:05 AM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

The app will look up and shout, "Save us, sex industry!" and they'll whisper "No..."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:50 AM on September 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

There are grown-ass adults who use the word titties?

I prefer the classic pretty dukkys.
posted by Pendragon at 6:48 AM on September 27, 2022

tumblr has been making a two steps forward one step back kind of shambling recovery since automattic bought it. I get the most response out of my art on tumblr, because it's the only site where memetics truly works in the artist's favour -- reblogging a post resets its "gestalt death" timer. I've got art from two years ago still circulating; that can happen nowhere else.

I am definitely there for the tiddies, too. Along with all my other art, I post 'em, and I welcome them on my dash.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:30 AM on September 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

No matter what they say, porn never left tumblr. How about a decent commenting system Tumblr?
posted by hoodrich at 7:50 AM on September 27, 2022

I think this is a crap idea. I was a zealous tagger of explicit porn Tumblrs not because I have anything against porn, but because children on the platform were more than likely going to run across shit that has no business being freely viewable. "Mommy, what's a 'bukkake freak'?" is not a question 9-year-olds should be asking. That said, "forced fattening" and ana/mia/thinspo accounts still roam wild, and there's no tiering for content based on age. So, Tumblr's slide back to being a cesspool of easily available porn is, I suppose, only an extra layer of shit rather than a sea change in the site's nature.
posted by the sobsister at 8:23 AM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Someone just suggested to me that Tumblr is great for Locked Tomb fanart, so I'm going to revive my long-dead Tumblr account and am looking forward to seeing many renderings of Frontline Titties of the Fifth!
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 8:55 AM on September 27, 2022 [7 favorites]

Nature is healing. Peace and love on planet earth.
posted by jy4m at 9:32 AM on September 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have a pretty stable group of people I follow there (I'm a lurker who likes finding new artists-- mostly I follow people they repost) and I guess that has kept most of the gross stuff off my feed. I wonder if anything will change. I vaguely remember having to do a fair amount of blocking porny or just gross accounts when I started.

Tumblr is a really odd place, it's got some of that old school Internet weirdness to it.
posted by emjaybee at 10:22 AM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

It is still the best and easiest bblogging platform around.
posted by hoodrich at 10:46 AM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

FWIW, I run a small but pretty active and somewhat popular (nearly 2k followers) NSFW tumblr account centred around gay men/masculine bodies. The blog got tagged as mature a while ago so I lost my icon, the ability to show up in tags, the ability for people to view the blog properly, etc.

I was excited about this update and did some experimenting. The gifs I couldn't upload before because they'd get autoflagged? Still getting flagged, but it takes longer now (maybe it's getting to actual humans this time?). I've had slightly more success with softcore porn photos (think naked butts and tummies in suggestive poses, but no actual wieners). But in general it doesn't feel like anything has changed, except now new users and users who didn't see the update news are even less likely to see my posts at all because the blog is marked mature/sexual.

I'm a cynic and I feel like this is just a way to drive this content even further underground on the platform and ultimately punish NSFW blogs if they're not properly labelling themselves.

One thing I don't see talked about very much is that this is likely because Tumblr was sued by NYC's Commission on Human Rights over discrimination claims regarding their anti-porn algorithm and how it discriminates against LGBTQ+ users. They settled in February of this year, now 7 months later, this rollout seems like their answer.
posted by fight or flight at 12:27 PM on September 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

From Tumblr support:

Hi there, community labels don’t change our content policies: and some types of content are still not welcome in the community. More info on that what we consider NSFW here: https://tumblr.com/policy/en/community

And from the linked community policies, under "what Tumblr is not for":

Adult Content. Don't upload images, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples —this includes content that is so photorealistic that it could be mistaken for featuring real-life humans (nice try, though). Certain types of artistic, educational, newsworthy, or political content featuring nudity are fine. Don’t upload any content, including images, videos, GIFs, or illustrations, that depicts sex acts. For more information about what this guideline prohibits and how to appeal decisions about adult content, check out our help desk.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Oh well, it was almost a decent attempt to move back into the 2020's.
posted by fight or flight at 12:39 PM on September 27, 2022

I guess we'll celebrate Sept 27 as Lucy's Football Day. Sniff.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:42 PM on September 27, 2022

Titties & Beer

I first heard this song when I was maybe 12 on Dr. Demento, and it was so heavily censored for radio that you honestly couldn't tell what it was about. I fucking loved it so much. Way past bedtime on a Sunday night, under the covers, lights out, tiny transistor radio hot as hell and barely keeping back the static. Absolutely breakin' the law.

MeFi: I got me three beers an' a fistfula downs an' I'm gonna get ripped, so fuck you clowns.
posted by The Bellman at 12:45 PM on September 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

That tweet from Tumblr Support has been deleted, which is... on brand. So there's still no announcement about whether or not their content policies are changing except for a deleted tweet that says they aren't?

Hah.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:52 PM on September 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

There are grown-ass adults who use the word titties?


Yup.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:12 PM on September 27, 2022

Can we have our dungeon'd tumblr blogs back, then?

Haha, neeeeeeeeeeeeuw.
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:51 AM on September 28, 2022

Matt Mullenweg, whose company owns Tumblr: Why “Go Nuts, Show Nuts” Doesn’t Work in 2022.

no modern internet service in 2022 can have the rules that Tumblr did in 2007. I am personally extremely libertarian in terms of what consenting adults should be able to share, and I agree with “go nuts, show nuts” in principle, but the casually porn-friendly era of the early internet is currently impossible.

posted by Nelson at 4:19 PM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

It's weird how I'm very inclined to believe Matt's post (since it makes sense) but the post simultaneously raises a ton of red flags about him (libertarian? crypto-utopia?) I wonder if WordPress would be some weird DAO platform if it was made today.
posted by simmering octagon at 4:49 PM on September 29, 2022 [1 favorite]