UPDATED 6:30 p.m. ET: In light of the news that Tumblr is removing content deemed pornographic later this month, Chance the Rapper has asked Twitter to follow a similar plan, but with graphic videos that find their way to the social media platform.
"They banning nipples on tumblr but im seeing people get murdered graphically every day on this app. Like real snuff videos, non related to police shootings. Wtf yo," Chance wrote. "That shit honestly terrible for my mental and fucking up how I value human life. Help? @TwitterSupport."
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Porn seems even more inextricable from Tumblr than it is from the wider internet. Imagining the platform without explicit fan art, nude photos, and lewd GIFs is almost impossible. However, the blogging service will attempt to go completely adult-content free starting on Dec. 17.
According to a blog post from Tumblr, the platform will launch algorithms to flag and remove all content deemed pornographic. Existing content that runs afoul of the new guidelines will be automatically set to private, ending users' ability to share the posts.
The platform says that all photos, videos and GIFs of human genitalia are off-limits. In addition, photos showing nipples of female-presenting people will not be allowed. Illustrations have a bit more leeway. Nudity is still allowed, as long as no one is drawn committing a sex act. The blogging platform makes exception for photos depicting political protests, classical statures, breast-feeding, and after-birth. Text of almost all stripes is still fine, so the erotica communities of Tumblr will be allowed to remain on the platform,
"We spent considerable time weighing the pros and cons of expression in the community that includes adult content," Tumblr CEO Jeff D’Onofrio said in the company's explanation of the new rules. "In doing so, it became clear that without this content we have the opportunity to create a place where more people feel comfortable expressing themselves."
D'Onofrio said he believes users can find other communities to share explicit content while Tumblr moves forward in a sanitized form. “There are no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content. We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community,” he wrote.
Users raised a stink after Yahoo purchased the platform back in 2013, but the company assured the community that NSFW material was safe. Yahoo was purchased by Horizon earlier this year and the platform's new parent company clearly has different ideas.
The announcement comes a few days after Tumblr's app was removed from the Apple iOS store after child pornography was found on the website. While the platform has a filter to remove child porn, apparently several posts managed to slip through. The content has since been removed, however, Tumblr remains pulled from the App Store.
