Tumblr has largely amended its most controversial rule change on the platform — the porn ban of 2018. However, there is a catch as Tumblr staff have added one exception to the rule that might be a deterrent for NSFW artists to produce content on the site.
Tumblr released the update on its official staff page, stating the community guidelines have been updated. The website has introduced “community labels” where users can filter out mature or dangerous content from their feed. Alongside this, the website announced that sexual content is finally allowed on the platform as long as creators use the right labels.
However, there is a catch when it comes to posting NSFW content. Tumblr made it clear that while nudity is okay, creatives can’t depict any form of explicit acts. What this means is that you can post art or photos of people (or yourself) naked or doing provocative poses, but no content can be posted of people performing any sexually explicit acts.
“Today, we’re taking the next step: We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form).
“So, even if your creations contain nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes, you can now share them on Tumblr using the appropriate Community Label so that everyone remains in control of the types of content they see on their dash…
“…We still don’t allow hate, spam, violent threats, or anything illegal, and visual depictions of sexually explicit acts remain off-limits on Tumblr”
Tumblr and Automatic CEO, Matt Mullenweg, released a statement in September on why Tumblr can’t have porn on the platform. Mullenweg stated multiple factors, such as credit card companies “being anti-porn” and how PornHub was affected by this. He also mentioned Apple’s anti-porn policy on the app store, which according to The Verge, was one of the big factors on why Tumblr’s porn ban was created.
Mashable reported that Tumblr lost nearly 30 percent of its users due to the ban and artists found new homes on other platforms such as Twitter and Reddit.
Despite the drastic loss, perhaps the rule change would welcome some of these artists back. Only time will tell if Tumblr would return to its former glory or continue to go downhill due to the damage it has caused.