Dear Tumblr…: An Open Letter About Censorship

Dear Tumblr CEO, Jeff D’Onofrio

In the words of early meme star “Jessi Toxic Slaughter”, You done Goofed.

On Monday, December 4th, 2018, You announced that Tumblr will be Adult Content Free starting on the 17th. You claim its to provide a safe space for your users, or in your own words, ”…create a place where more people feel comfortable expressing themselves.” Now, with that being said; it’s nice to know you’re on board with personal expression. Yet, to many people that expression involves their bodies & art.

With this ban, you are doing nothing but taking that freedom of expression away from your no-longer-adoring public.

Understand that people make a living with their adult art & activities on your platform. You are censoring an already taboo subject. Adult Content is not just porn, It’s educational and the root of peoples careers. It’s another way us already struggling millennials can make ends meet or work our way through college.

This new ban is particularly disgusting primarily because it feels so authoritarian. Yahoo made a promise not to screw up Tumblr. You can consider that promise broken.

Wanna know what else is broken? THE AUTOMATED ALGORITHM THAT IS FLAGGING PERFECTLY SAFE FOR WORK CONTENT AS NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Just from my own digging, it was easy to find multiple pages that have nothing to do with adult content have either had a chunk of their content deleted or have had their pages deleted entirely.

How does this ban affect me and those of us who are not content creators? Well, I express myself occasionally through sharing the erotic photos of Tumblr. Some speak to me and others are just pleasant to look at as they may have been tastefully done. Like the art of a partially nude geisha with a single breast showing. It’s a lovely photo, yet It was flagged for A SINGLE FUCKING TIT! Not even real tasteful art is safe.

The algorithm is broken. The censorship is a crime against hardworking people and freedom of expression. How is the tit of a woman more offensive than the hate speech spewed on Tumblr that was promised to be enforced against but goes unbothered?

Sir, You have chosen your battle. Just understand you will not win it in the end. You may get what you want but not without major loss.