Adult contents can be found all over the web. And Tumblr was one of those places where such contents once thrived.
When popular online platforms started shifting away from allowing adult contents, Tumblr was one of the very few not-porn-related services that still allowed users to post NSFW contents. The thing is, Apple doesn't like that. And Apple in hating Tumblr costed its popularity to diminish fairly quickly.
Things were changing as the microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007, also wanted to ban adult-related contents.
"Adult content will no longer be allowed here," said Tumblr, "regardless of how old you are."
Later. the company went a step further by blocking all blogs that flagged themselves as “mature” from being accessible on its iOS app.
Through the decision, users who visit the blog would see a pop-up explaining that the content has been hidden because of "potentially suggestive or explicit content."
"In order for us to remain in Apple’s App Store and for our Tumblr iOS app to be available, we needed to make changes that would help us be more compliant with their policies around sensitive content," Tumblr wrote.
"We understand that these adjustments will impact how users are able to access potentially sensitive content while using our iOS app, and that can be frustrating," a Tumblr spokesperson said. "We are working on more thoughtful solutions which will be rolled out in the near future and we will keep the community updated as that work continues."
Tumblr also started censoring a number of tags.
This time, as part of its ongoing efforts to stay on the right side of App Store rules, Tumblr is going a step further by introducing a 'Sensitive Content' toggle to its iOS app.
The setting that is enabled by default, is meant to keep all posts with sensitive tags out of recommendations.
The toggle also blocks all search results with sensitive tags, and hides blogs "that are explicit in nature."
Users can disable the toggle.
Doing so, will allow users to search for tags that might include posts of a sensitive nature and see recommendations that might include suggestive or sensitive content. Switching off the setting will also allow users to tap through an overlay on blogs that have been marked as explicit.
However, users still won't be able to view posts that have been flagged as explicit.
It’s worth noting that, according to Tumblr, sensitive content is totally different from adult content.
Adult content are those that have been banned from the social network since 2018, following the moment Tumblr’s iOS app was removed from the App Store as Apple claimed it provided easy access to child pornography.
Since that time, Tumblr decided to remove all adult and pornographic content from the social network.
Sensitive contents are considered a different matter, and Tumblr is rather vague at this time.
"These latest updates provide more control to our community on the iOS app to build the experience that fits them best, and to explore the content that they find interesting," Tumblr wrote in a blog post.
"While the experience for our community is a top priority, we must also comply with Apple’s App Store guidelines and our own guidelines."