Tumblr users have always affectionately called the blogging platform their "favorite hellsite." Home to broken search features and stringent content bans, the latest of which features a whole new slate of prohibited tags, Tumblr is far from perfect. So what’s keeping creators from deleting their accounts?
In late December 2021, Forbes reported that Tumblr had banned a large list of words, like "girl" and "sad," from being used as tags on its iOS app due to Apple's App Store restrictions for sensitive content. Around that time, the blogging site exploded with posts from its creators decrying the change.
But a few weeks removed from the announcement, the dust has settled into a much quieter scene. While at first outraged at what felt like blatant content censorship, Tumblr creators have mostly accepted the latest update. It's only the latest in a long line of unwanted changes to the site, and frankly, a lot of Tumblr users are used to adaptation.
The latest ban is not something they want — but it still isn't enough to push both diehard Tumblr users and newbies off the platform for good. For all of its flaws, Tumblr is still a destination for niche communities and interests, and for these creators the site’s potential outweighs its limitations. It’s yet another chip in the fraught but somehow tenacious relationship between Tumblr and its community.
"Tumblr has had so many problems for so many years," said longtime Tumblr user Klaudia Amenabar. "And not that that makes it any better, but it always goes right back to business."
It isn't the first time that Tumblr's done this
The latest list of banned words didn't exactly come as a shock to Tumblr veterans, who have seen the company police central topics on the platform before. In 2013, Tumblr introduced a new policy banning blogs that actively promoted self-harm or eating disorders, leaving users afraid that essential mental health discussions and resources would be affected. In 2018, Tumblr famously enacted its porn ban to appease Apple's regulations after being kicked off its App Store, drawing major criticism for its sudden lack of support for the sex creators that helped bring Tumblr to fame.
Similarly, this latest content restriction was done to satisfy Apple's safety guidelines — and to keep the platform on the App Store. While many of these outlawed words are sexual in nature, the list also includes both bizarre and banal terms, like "anti native racism" and "anime girl." Other terms, like "submission" and "reblog," are inescapable functions of Tumblr. For example, when someone submits a post to a blogger, the platform automatically tags it with #submission, and artists or other original creators often use #reblog to signal a post with work that isn't their own.
Even Tumblr itself isn't too pleased with the banned tags made necessary by Apple's strict standards. "We were scrambling to not be taken down from the App Store with a very short deadline days before Christmas," a Tumblr spokesperson told Mashable. "There are no similar restrictions on Android, mobile web, or desktop web, and we encourage anyone negatively impacted by this pointless, arbitrary, and hopefully temporary restriction to use one of those platforms in the meantime, or turn off the 'Hide Sensitive Content' toggle using a web browser."
While it appears that Tumblr originally alerted users about these updates on its Changes blog, linking to an explanatory post on its Work In Progress blog, the full list of banned words doesn't currently appear on any official Tumblr communication. The blog bannedtags has been compiling a list of the seemingly banned tags, which is accessible to anyone via a Google Doc link. A Tumblr spokesperson also told Mashable that they are working to remove this crowdsourced list.
"Since artists count a lot on the discoverability features of the platforms they use to host and promote their work, when such tools [like tags] become 'unstable' and make it harder to discover and get discovered, it’s frustrating," said Tumblr user Kevin Briatico to Mashable in an email.
But even as Tumblr's atmosphere keeps changing, there's no other platform that lets you be a creator in the same way.
Despite all the turmoil, Tumblr creators have what seems to be an unbreakable bond with the site. Many of them credit this to Tumblr's unique content types and ongoing niche communities — sometimes so niche that the very people that built them still don't consider themselves a stereotypical creator.
"If I was going to leave, I would have left a long time ago. Tumblr has become a place where I can skip between a lot of communities," said Amenabar. "And I never wrote fanfiction or made GIFs or made fan art or anything like that. I just made funny little jokes and little posts. So I don't consider myself a creator. But I engage in creator-like activity."
But what even is a Tumblr creator these days? It's a difficult question to answer, as the term "creator" has evolved to often mean "monetizable influencer" on most other social media platforms. On Tumblr, it's always felt like anyone can be a creator. You can make text posts from your favorite books, create entirely original art pieces, or share funny shitposts that just make you giggle — all of it is content, and all of it has a home on Tumblr.
If I was going to leave, I would have left a long time ago.
"Whether you like writing fanfiction with your favorite characters, making cosmic horror comics, keeping a dream journal, or posting beautiful GIF sets, anything that can decorate the time of others and your own is art. And making it makes you a creator," said Briatico.
But Tumblr isn't completely void of monetization attempts — and the problems that come with it. The site has three main programs for its creators to make money: Post+, the Creatr network, and Tumblr Tips, which just launched in February 2022 and will allow for users to send their favorite creators any tip amount up to US$100.
Post+ is a tiered subscription service mainly launched in the U.S. Any creator can activate Post+ on their blog, which allows them to charge a fee for any content they choose to make premium. This fee ranges from US$3.99 to US$9.99 per month, and Tumblr takes a 5 percent fee from each subscription. When Post+ first launched in July 2021, the site saw similar protests erupt, denouncing monetization as the antithesis of Tumblr's community. Many creators were also worried about the legality of charging a fee for fan edits or fanfiction that drew inspiration from copyrighted work, and were frustrated that Tumblr wouldn't address this.
Amenabar has Post+ activated on her blog, but hasn't found that it drastically changes her Tumblr experience. "When I first activated Post+, people were fired up about it. Some people would harass me for using it. But it's really just a feature I was testing out, and it's something you opt into. If you don't want to use it, then don't subscribe to my blog that way."
The Creatr network launched in 2015, and it is a collective of artists handpicked by Tumblr for curated brand collaboration deals. The network currently lists 71 artists on its roster, and boasts of deals with companies like HBO, Kate Spade, Netflix, Samsung, Toyota, and more.
Briatico runs the blog Mark My Comics, and considers himself to be a relatively new member of the Creatr network. He credits the collective for pushing him to continue building his artistic portfolio, but so far he doesn't feel that his Creatr status necessarily changes how he interacts with Tumblr's platform.
"I hardly [think] Creatrs will have better luck at escaping the consequences of the ban, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing, to be honest," said Briatico in an email to Mashable. "Tumblr Creatrs artists are as valid as any other artist on the platform and knowing we are all on the same level is reassuring."
On Tumblr, you don't have to be an influencer. You don't even have to have a good blog.
Currently, Tumblr hosts an estimated 542.7 million blogs. While some of these blogs are the product of hours of work, custom-coded themes, and curated engagement, many of them are simply personal outlets, made to host any and every type of content. And that's what makes Tumblr's magic continue to endure through corporate regime changes and content bans that veer a little too close to censorship: The platform is still a home to anyone who wants to use it and make content.
"It’s always been about having a voice. And [my] hobby became so much more [than just making silly comics] when I discovered I was being heard," said Briatico. "It's in moments like when people told me they started using translators to understand my comics (back when they were written in Italian), or that my stuff had a positive impact on their days, that I realized I wanted to do this forever."
This isn't to say that the great Tumblr overlords can do no wrong. As seen after the porn ban, the platform's decisions do have the potential to cause mass exodus. Tumblr's life source is its creators and the communities they have fostered on the platform, and these content restrictions only cause more friction. Still, for its users, there’s no place on the internet like Tumblr.
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