Daily Management Review

Tumblr, Facebook wage war against adult content


12/10/2018


Blogging platform Tumblr decided to fight with adult content. From December 17, 2018, the service will block any content for an adult audience.



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The publication notes that this will be the last step of the company in the fight against materials 18+ on its website, and the new rules of service are very specific. For example, Tumblr will block photos showing sexual acts or genitalia. At the same time, pictures with bare parts will not be blocked, if they relate to health, breastfeeding, childbirth, etc. Also, the service will not block erotic photos if they can be attributed to art.

The service made this decision because of charges of placing child pornography found on pages of some users.

In mid-November, the application was no longer available for download in the AppStore, and after a while, the management announced new rules that many users didn’t like. They were outraged by decision of the resource’s administration. In their opinion, such a move will reduce popularity of Tumblr. Some of them decided to delete their accounts.

Representatives of sexual minorities and subcultures didn’t like decision either, because they communicated there with like-minded people and found support. Creative people claim that they also suffered because some of their works were banned as well.

Because of the new Tumblr rules, many furry artists who published their work on the site were banned. Furry identify themselves with one or more animals in which they like to dress, or paint them anthropomorphic. Some representatives of this subculture use costumes in erotic photo shoots, so the service will block photos and drawings of some furry artists.

Search for adult content will be handled by a special algorithm. A blogger, on whose page the forbidden images are found, will receive a message that the publication is closed from other users, and will be able to challenge it. So far, smart social network algorithms scan freely available content and often mistake appropriate content for adult. Many users have already complained about injustice of the AI verdict.

Since its inception in 2007, Tumblr has almost turned a blind eye to adult content, limited to safe mode and search filters. Yet, after going under the control of Verizon’s structures in 2017, the website began to think about more serious methods, up to the removal of such content, The Verge notes.

Tumblr is not the only social network that has decided to eradicate adultcontent on its pages. Facebook updated its Harassment Policy. Now the social network prohibits any content that encourages sexual contacts between adults, promotes them, or was created to organize such contacts. Also, Facebook will limit expression of sexual nature, which can be regarded as harassment.

The creators indicate that they encourage and do not prohibit posts about sexual harassment and sexual abuse "to draw attention to this problem." It is also not forbidden to talk about sexual orientation.

The list of what cannot be published is much more extensive. It includes statements with sexual overtones (“I want to have fun tonight”), search for clients for tantric and erotic massage, recruitment for strip shows and erotic shows, use of sexual slang, any images of naked bodies, as well as images of people during sexual intercourse or simply in sexual poses, even if they are drawn by hand.

source: theverge.com