Tumblr Welcomes Nudity Again, But Not The X-Rated Kind

Before officially banning explicit content in 2018, Tumblr was the de facto destination for online pornography. Since then, it’s had some trouble competing with its social-networking rivals for users’ attention.

Now, the microblogging platform is reopening the door to nudity again, according to an announcement on Tuesday. But make no mistake, it’s not going to be the next OnlyFans.

Mature content on Tumblr should be more about art and expression, the site stresses. Its latest move, in fact, is in hopes to ring in more forms of expression while respecting other members of the community.

“We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form),” the Tumblr team writes.

“So, even if your creations contain nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes, you can now share them on Tumblr using the appropriate Community Label so that everyone remains in control of the types of content they see on their dash.”

It appears that Tumblr has been preparing for this moment for a while. Back in September, it rolled out a ‘Community Labels’ feature which encouraged users to tag media that wasn’t necessarily for general viewers, like posts touching on violence and drug and alcohol addiction.

As per Motherboard, a staff member responded to the Community Labels announcement by hinting, “OK, didn’t everyone want ‘females presenting nipples’ back on Tumblr? Here you are. This is it.” This likely confused users as they were still restricted from displaying any birthday suits then.

Tumblr’s updated community guidelines now read that the platform allows “historically significant art that you may find in a mainstream museum and which depicts sex acts—such as from India’s Sunga Empire” and “nudity and other kinds of adult material are generally welcome,” so long as the relevant labels are added.

“We’re not here to judge your art, we just ask that you add a Community Label to your mature content so that people can choose to filter it out of their Dashboard if they prefer,” the company adds.

It’s worth pointing out that “visual depictions of sexually-explicit acts (or content with an overt focus on genitalia”—AKA pornographic images—are still not permitted. “That includes pictures, videos, GIFs, drawings, CGI, or anything similar,” shares Tumblr.

The microblogging site concludes that this is its solution to “[creating] safer spaces for everyone on Tumblr, whatever their interests and needs.

“We hope this shift creates more room for artistic expression to flourish on Tumblr while empowering each of you to craft your own experience and safely explore and discover the things you love.”

With Tumblr now being more graphically freeing, Twitter now being run by Elon Musk, Instagram accidentally suspending users during a blackout, and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey starting his own social network, while Meta plays architect to the metaverse in the background, the social media sphere has been completely transfigured in just days. Which site do you think users will end up swarming to?

[via VICE and Tumblr, cover photo 38836160 © GilbertC | Dreamstime.com]