Tumblr has enacted new terms of use covering adult content on it’s service. This is supposed to “protect” children and teens from predators and traffickers. Facebook also quietly changed their terms and theirs is worse. So be forwarned. But tumblr is the topic of rage today.
See that adorable baby up there? That image was flagged and hidden by Tumblr’s automated censorship algorithm. My granddaughter just days old when it was taken.
This has happened with pictures of hand holding, yarn, kittens and cat like creatures, and other innocuous things. And guess what isn’t getting caught? The multiple porn blogs that I had to block from my page on the last week since this took effect.
Genius right? But this is the internet post FOSTA/SESTA. Sure it sounds good to help prevent predation and sex traffickers, but Tumblr shows that isn’t what is happening. The porn flows freely, while classic art, awareness blogs for survivors of rape, incest, molestation etc, and resources for lgbtq+ are being wiped from public view. Any social platform used that has an app in the app store, and/or depends on advertisers for their existence, is at risk. The age of the free internet is being threatened by a storm of mistargeted censorship, and Tumblr is just the first ship taking on water.