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Pornography on Tumblr: Popularity Plummets

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26 March 2019

By Bronwen

As expected, social media platform Tumblr has suffered a real loss in engagement since it took the decision to ban NSFW content.

In an attempt to combat the amount of pornography including children and minors, the Tumblr executives rolled out a ban on all sexually explicit content, starting on the 17th December 2018.

This ban came as bad news to some users of the site, including members of the LGBTQ+ community who used the site to explore their sexuality, and women who felt that mainstream pornography sites focused solely on male pleasure. According to a study which explored the consumption of pornography on social media sites, 72% of Tumblr’s users are female which, as Glamour reports, would explain why much of the pornography on the site is geared towards women.

Since the ban kicked in, Tumblr’s traffic fell by 29%, equating to 151,500,000 fewer page visits. In fact, one fifth of Tumblr users have deserted the site as a result of the ban.

A sort of Internet migration has taken place since the ban, with many Tumblr users and creators going to other platforms with more relaxed rules on sexually explicit content such as Instagram and Reddit.

What the Tumblr executives will do next is anyone’s guess. Tumblr has long been thought of as a site for smutty fan fiction, alternative art and erotic literature. Will the site undergo a rebrand to try and attract new users and prompt the return of former users? Or will the execs stick to their guns and hope that the remaining users stay loyal to the platform?

The current statistics seem to suggest that Tumblr will soon be the next MySpace…

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