Despite promising users that it “wouldn’t police porn,” Tumblr has already made changes to the way adult or NSFW content shows up within its network.
Although Tumblr won’t actively police content and ban users from uploading nude or NSFW photos, the company has made some significant adjustments to how users can discover and view that content.
See also: Can Yahoo Ignore Tumblr’s Dark Side?
The new changes primarily concern the display of blogs and posts in search and on mobile. Blogs classified as NSFW (ones that contain occasional nudity or adult content) or adult (ones that contain mostly nudity or adult-oriented material) will not show up in tag pages or search pages for users that are not logged in or who have “Safe Mode” turned on.
If you’re logged in to Tumblr and do not have “Safe Mode” turned on, NSFW blogs should show up on search and tag pages. Blogs deemed “adult,” however, are now no longer indexed by third-party search engines or by Tumblr’s own search.
This won’t affect most Tumblr users — it really impacts the discoverability of certain types of content. Blogs and users that relied on certain hashtags around a certain topic or fandom may no longer be listed in searches if their blog is tagged NSFW or adult.
It’s important to note that users who do follow NSFW or adult blogs will still see that content in their dashboards, as long as “Safe Mode” is not enabled.
It’s equally important to remember that not every “adult” blog is flagged as such. In other words, the indexing policy is only as strong as the flagging system.
Tumblr users, as you might imagine, are responding to these changes with calm and restraint. (Sarcasm implied.)
Mobile Changes
The bigger change, however, comes with Tumblr’s mobile app. Earlier this year, Tumblr was forced to re-classify its iOS app because its 4+ rating didn’t account for the amount of porn and adult material accessible via the app.
Even though the app is now rated 17+, content from NSFW or adult blogs won’t show up in searches. Moreover, many specific tags no longer work on mobile at all.
Searches for tags for terms as innocuous as “gay” or “bisexual” no longer appear in searches on the Tumblr mobile apps. Content with those tags will still show up in the dashboard for users following a specific blog, but the tag page itself remains empty.
Tumblr told Mashable in a statement:
“Tumblr’s longstanding policy regarding NSFW content has not changed and emphasizes the importance of free expression. As addressed in these policies, we are constantly taking measures to ensure our users can avoid this content unless they’d like to see it. Anyone can opt-in by disabling Safe Mode in their Dashboard Settings: https://www.tumblr.com/settings/dashboard“
It’s odd that certain tags are restricted from viewing in the mobile app. Perhaps this is required by Apple or Google, or maybe the API for mobile doesn’t allow for more specific filtering. Regardless, it seems strange since according to policy, neither NSFW nor adult blogs should appear on mobile tag pages at all.
Tumblr Should Make NSFW/Adult Viewing an Explicit Opt-In
It makes sense that Tumblr may not want to index NSFW content — especially if the company wants to sell ads on more content — but rather than putting up faux walls for discovery or denying access to certain terms in mobile apps, the company should create an explicit opt-in setting that allows users to decide if they want to see potentially adult or NSFW content in search. Turn it off by default if you want. This wouldn’t be unlike how Google allows users to omit NSFW or adult content from their settings.
If Tumblr isn’t careful about how it handles the community response to its new policies, it could backfire.
What do you think of Tumblr’s new policies? Are you outraged or is this much ado about nothing? Let us know in the comments.
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; screenshots: Tumblr