Tumblr announced a more stringent policy to tackle hate speech blogs on its platform. The company has removed reblogs from any blogs suspended for violating its policies.
The blogging platform has already identified nearly 1,000 blogs for blatantly violating its hate-speech rules. These blogs, which contained Nazi-related content, have been banned on Tumblr previously, but remnants of content are still floating around the platform due to reblogs. For this reason, Tumblr has also removed reblogs, amounting to 4.47 million posts altogether.
Tumblr is now investigating the suspended blogs that promote hate speech and will perform mas deletion when necessary.
"We are, and will always remain, steadfast believers in free speech. Tumblr is a place where you can be yourself and express your opinions. Hate speech is not conducive to that," the company's announcement read. "When hate speech goes unchecked, it eventually silences the voices that add kindness and value to our society. That's not the kind of Tumblr any of us want."
According to Tumblr, its evaluating process isn't being left up to algorithms and AI. The platform is also asking its users to review and flag content that violates its policies so that its Trust & Safety team composed of human moderators can take the appropriate actions.
Already, some are questioning Tumblr's updated policy. Many are supportive of the company's decision in terms of filtering content, but several others are arguing that the changes are a violation of freedom of speech.
Hate speech isn't new on Tumblr. The blogging platform has had this problem for years in addition to its unregulated porn content in the past. In 2018, the company ultimately banned adult and erotic blogs after getting kicked out of Apple's App Store for hosting lewd content.
Since being acquired by Automattic, the company that also owns WordPress, Tumblr has made several changes. However, not all of its efforts turned out great for the platform, as it lost a ton of traffic.
The removal of NSFW content made it clear that much of Tumblr's users are adult-oriented, considering the ban caused a significant drop in visitors and overall traffic. The platform's younger audience has also switched to more video-centric platforms, such as Twitch and TikTok.
As for Tumblr's Community Guidelines, nothing has been changed as of writing that includes its decision to take down hate speech reblogs. However, you can read the entire policy about its hate speech rules here.
