THIS got flagged of all things? guess tumblr doesnt like funny drawings pic.twitter.com/9qEWJ11Gpg
— ianjq (@ianjq) December 4, 2018
NOTE: For all latest, breaking news related to Tumblr adult content ban as well as its alternatives, head here.
A lot is currently going on over at Tumblr. Of course, that’s not completely unexpected, as the company announced earlier this month that they’ll try to make any and everything NSFW/adult/explicit private (save for some exceptions).
But what’s concerning is that users are crying foul play by Tumblr. For example, this Tumblr user is alleging the company is shadow banning visual artists, even if they have SFW material on their blogs.
The proof? Until some time ago, typing “Johnlock” in the dashboard search bar, I had among the popular results, tons of fanarts from the most famous artists. The fanarts were the most immediate and numerous result of the research, I’m sure you remember this.
Now it has completely changed. These are the search results [pics below] on “Johnlock” search from today. There are almost exclusively text posts, chats, and memes. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against memes or text posts, they are great. The problem is that fanarts, manips, photosets, gifset, and even most of the actors’ photos have disappeared from the research.
They further said:
Is it strange? Not a result from Anotherwellkeptsecret, Reapersun, Bluebellofbakerstreet? How is it possible? Because Tumblr doesn’t want fandom material on its site anymore, and it doesn’t give a toss if it’s SFW or not. You’re a fandom artist? You are punished by becoming invisible
How are users supposed to find new artists to follow, if they’re shadow banned?
How are artists supposed to make themselves known and show their creations, if they can’t be seen?
Hundreds of other Tumblr users either liked or reblogged this post, which indicates all this may be correct. One user even left a comment confirming this development through their own test:
Well, shit! I used “Mystrade” and I got text posts. No fan art to speak of. Folks we know there’s fan art
Ever since Tumblr announced the ban, we have been hearing a lot about Tumblr’s censoring bots flagging non-explicit content. Here’s an example:
Even prior to the announcement, there were reports of blogs (even SFW ones) being deleted.
While Tumblr along with its censoring bots, as users like to say, “are on a rampage,” porn bots are still enjoying their time on the platform. A lot of users have recently reported that their blogs are being followed by new porn bots. Take a look:
I had 2 spam porn bots following me in less than a day! #tumblrsidead but not the bots apparently! @tumblr you’re a joke
— Joi🐰 (@_Joicchi) December 12, 2018
every since tumblr announced it was nukin nsfw content ive had more porn bots follow me than i had in the entire time on tumblr its like they are following folk out of primal fear
— ʕ •ᴥ•ʔノ izzy (@zhaiires) December 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/legitmarilyn/status/1072635947819417600
https://twitter.com/SavrinDrake/status/1072974876162564097
Reportedly, users as well as bots have been taking advantage of a loop hole where-in if a post is tagged as SFW, Tumblr’s censoring bots do not flag it.
https://twitter.com/TorchPerverse/status/1072192168922615808
https://twitter.com/InsomniaArrest/status/1072552139078144000
https://twitter.com/catoleils/status/1072697032895287301
https://twitter.com/art_nado/status/1072997530819010561
We’re not sure if this loop hole still exists or you can still exploit it. But this is not the only one that has come to light in recent times – users have also reportedly managed to fool Tumblr’s algorithm by transplanting an owls image on a pic that was marked as explicit by Tumblr’s censoring bots.
So here's something. Users are testing the limits of Tumblr's new algorithm that flags adult content (aka "censorbot"). This one found that a man's chest was flagged, but a man's chest next a 50% scale owl went unnoticed.
— Chappell Ellison (@ChappellTracker) December 7, 2018
Things seem to be going greathttps://t.co/FU1MudA0K9 pic.twitter.com/Tmm0JyPWJC
Meanwhile, users are leaving Tumblr in droves, and heading to one of the many alternatives that are currently out there. Here’s the list we’ve compiled for you.
Tumblralt, for example, is a new and upcoming Tumblr replacement that has been built by engineers from within the Tumblr community. Then there’s another one, Pillowfort, which has already received quite a lot of media mileage. Oh, and yes, there’s also a secretive platform, details related to which leaked out recently.
PiunikaWeb is a unique initiative that mainly focuses on investigative journalism. This means we do a lot of hard work to come up with news stories that are either ‘exclusive,’ ‘breaking,’ or ‘curated’ in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason our work has been picked by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and more. Do take a tour of our website to get a feel of our work. And if you like what we do, stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) and other social media channels to receive timely updates on stories we publish.