Article 458HH Tumblr's porn filter blocked Tumblr's images illustrating what Tumblr's porn filter won't block

Tumblr's porn filter blocked Tumblr's images illustrating what Tumblr's porn filter won't block

by
Cory Doctorow
from on (#458HH)
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Yesterday, despite the manifest, glaring problems with its porn filter, Tumblr turned on mandatory porn-blocking for all its users' content, so that anything that its bots identified a pornographic would be invisible.

Tumblr faced a backlash over its announcement that it would ban "adult content," and not just because Tumblr had traditionally nurtured communities built around queer and marginalized sexuality -- but also because the company defined "adult content" in part as being "female presenting nipples."

In response to concerns about blocking breastfeeding images, breast-cancer awareness posts, and other "legitimate" uses of "female-presenting nipples," Tumblr put up a post illustrating and explaining the kinds of "female-presenting nipples" the service would allow: "exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.

The images that accompanied the post? Blocked by Tumblr's porn filter.

When Gizmodo posted the gif to Tumblr ourselves, it was immediately flagged as a potential violation and hidden by the platform's filter. When the images shown in the gif were uploaded individually, two of the four examples-which appeared to show a breast ultrasound and a pro-choice protest, respectively-were similarly flagged and hidden.

Tumblr's Porn Filter Flags Its Own Examples of 'Permitted' Nudity [Hudson Hongo/Gizmodo]

(via Beyond the Beyond)

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