Controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2022
Tumblr settles NYC discrimination allegations
Settlement
Tumblr and New York City’s Commission on Human Rights settled allegations related to Tumblr’s 2018 adult content ban. The city regulators said the ban disproportionately affected LGBTQ users; the settlement requires Tumblr to revise its appeals process, train moderators, review old cases, and examine its moderation algorithms for potential bias.
Source excerpt
The settlement requires Tumblr to revise its user appeals process and train its human moderators on diversity and inclusion issues, as well as review thousands of old cases and hire an expert to look for potential bias in its moderation algorithms.
The settlement, which did not involve a formal legal complaint and was signed last month, marks one of the first times that regulators have reached an agreement to change a social network’s moderation policies based on algorithmic bias issues.
2018
App Store removal and adult-content ban
Apple removed Tumblr’s iOS application after prohibited child-exploitation material was found on the service. Tumblr responded with a broad adult-content prohibition. The policy was criticized for affecting lawful adult art, sexuality-related expression, and LGBTQ+ communities, while also illustrating the platform’s struggle to moderate a large and open publishing network.