Source: Andy Hepburn – PA Images / Getty
Microblogging platform Tumblr told nasties to take their acts to Porn Hub or Xvideos if they want to rub one out back in December when it announced it was banning adult material on its site. Now it looks like it might be regretting that move cause the traffic has gone limp.
Tumblr is going to need some virtual viagra if the decline continues. To combat child pornography and other illegal material rolled out a new “Safe Mode” feature that filters out adult content. Once enacted, it’s supposed to scrub feeds of images featuring real-life genitalia and NSFW artistic depictions even though it was sloppily rolled and banned pictures that didn’t fit the description. As a direct result, Tumblr has seen its traffic drop from 521 million visits to just 369 million between December 2018 and February 2019.
Analytics website SimilarWeb pointed out the 150 million dip in traffic for Tumblr which is very significant. Despite vowing to keep the site free of gifs and videos that depict sex acts, women showing nipples and as mentioned above real-life male and female genitalia Tumblr stated in a press release that it still allows “written content such as erotica, nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, such as sculptures and illustrations.”
That might not be enough though to save the site at this rate. Tumblr not only has seen people run from its porn-less platform, but it also has faced backlash for the ban. A petition claiming “Safe Mode” purposely flagged LGBTQ content that is not sexually explicit or non-explicit art subsequently limiting what visitors can see. Tumblr was once considered a liberal safe space where people could express themselves, now not so much.
—
Photo: Andy Hepburn – PA Images / Getty
As Expexted: Tumblr’s Traffic Going Limp As A Direct Result of Porn Ban was originally published on hiphopwired.com
