ViralWorld

The Tumblr adult content ban

You might remember it as Tumblr purge, December 17 Tumblr

The archive has not found a surviving copy.

2018·The platform era

A platform deleting the culture that lived on it, and losing a third of its traffic in three months.

At a glanceThe facts

Remembered as
Tumblr purge
Spread in
2018
Began as
Something that happened offline
Format
Event
Era
The platform era
Where it started
Tumblr
What it said
The rules banned “female-presenting” nipples, with exceptions for breastfeeding, childbirth and surgery
Origin
Not an upload originally
Available
Not held by ViralWorld

What this wasThe story

Tumblr announced on 3 December 2018 that from 17 December it would remove adult images and video. The automated sweep flagged a great deal that was not adult at all, and the communities that had made the site what it was left. By March 2019 Similarweb estimated Tumblr had lost thirty per cent of its traffic.

Why it matteredWhat changed

A blogging site banned explicit images, lost an estimated thirty per cent of its traffic in three months, and was sold for less than a third of one per cent of what it had cost.

TimelineIn order

  1. Made

    Apple removes Tumblr’s app from its store after illegal images of children are found on the service.1

  2. Made

    Tumblr announces a ban on explicit images and videos.1

  3. Taken down

    The ban takes effect. The automatic filter flags many pictures that are not explicit.1

  4. Later

    Traffic is estimated to have fallen by thirty per cent since December.1

  5. Later

    The sale of Tumblr to Automattic is announced, reportedly for under three million dollars. Yahoo had paid 1.1 billion.1

  6. Corrected

    Tumblr changes its rules to allow nudity again, though not explicit images.1

What people misrememberSet straight

Commonly remembered asEverything adult was banned.

ActuallyText was not covered, and drawn nudity was allowed.1

Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later

This happened away from the internet before anybody put it online.

Where it came fromWhat we know

There is no original upload to identify: this did not begin as one. There is no copy of it here either — what it was, when it appeared and what people called it is what this page can tell you.

Nothing here is claimed to be the first publication of this Moment, because the first publication was not an upload. This happened away from the internet before anybody put it online.

Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.

ConnectedFollow it further

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — Tumblr

Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things

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