Tumblr bans adult content in wake of child porn

Social networking platform Tumblr will ban adult content from its platform from December 17.

Users were surprised to see their pictures flagged as Tumblr tries to clean out adult content from its platform.

According to CBS, the networking site's decision to ban adult content comes after the app was yanked from the Apple iStore after images of child pornography appeared on the site. The pictures were quickly removed and prompted Tumblr to review its policies.

Adult content, according to Tumblr, includes images, videos and gifs that show real-life human genitals or female nipples.

Tumblr said the only permitted forms of nipple presentation are breastfeeding, birth moments or health-surgical related issues such as mastectomy or gender confirmation. 

"There is no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content. We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment for our community," said CEO Jeff D'Onofrio in a post. 

Users were confused by the Tumblr ban of any kind of content that appeared to be sexual, including memes and pictures of naked people, or animations.

What infuriated Tumblr users was the company's benchmark for what it considered  pornographic posts. It flagged as adult content pictures with a group of friends, animated artwork and a picture of people at the beach.

According to Tumblr, the company will use industry-standard machine monitoring, human moderators and user tools to single out content that violates the new policy.

D'Onofrio said because Tumblr will rely on automated tools to identify inappropriate content, there will be mistakes, which include flagging non-pornographic content.

Tumblr will also permit the use of erotica or nudity for written political or newsworthy speeches. Users will be able to appeal against a content ban should they feel that their content does not violate the policy.

Some Tumblr users took to Twitter to express their disappointment with the new ban: