HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT
A platform apart. Tumblr’s previous permissiveness toward nudity set it apart from other social media platforms, providing a prejudice-free place for otherwise marginalized social groups but also allowing some questionable or abusive content to circulate. Members of the LGBTQ community, as well as sexual assault survivors, have used it as a safe space for communication and support. Sex workers marketed themselves with few restrictions and shared educational material in a bid to destigmatize their industry. Even after Yahoo purchased the platform for $1 billion in 2013, management doubled down on its porn-friendly policy, suggesting it shouldn’t be the one to draw a line between art and explicit content. That approach won many people over, including those who say Tumblr helped them better understand their sexual orientation.
There’s a line. Yet Tumblr’s liberal take on content has also caused serious problems. Despite a strict no-tolerance policy, child pornography still reportedly slipped through its filters. In recent weeks, cases have cropped up across the U.S. in which suspects were charged with downloading or sharing illegal material on Tumblr. Police from Arkansas to Vermont have been busy hunting down such offenders — though often with help from Tumblr itself, which reports the illegal content. Other countries are also on alert: Earlier this year, Indonesia blocked the platform over pornographic content, and just yesterday, South Korean authorities announced they'd arrested 101 people for distributing child porn on Tumblr and Twitter.
A safer, cleaner internet? Few would argue with the dangers posed by the proliferation of child pornography. But there’s another aspect to the Tumblr saga that’s rankling some critics: the power of Apple’s App Store. At least since CEO Steve Jobs famously declared in 2010 that “folks who want porn can buy an Android phone,” the online marketplace has shunned ribald corners of the internet. Early on, it purged thousands of apps featuring “content that is frequently pornographic.” In 2016, it booted third-party Reddit apps that allowed users to toggle NSFW material on and off. Before banning adult content outright, Tumblr had been set to Safe Mode by default. Given Apple’s massive market share, some technology journalists have wondered whether the company’s in-house sanitization efforts are forcing much of the internet to play ball with its rules.
Anti-trust us. Apple’s control over content is even playing out in the legal realm. As part of a long-running case, the Supreme Court is considering whether the App Store constitutes a monopoly. In 2011, iPhone owners sued Apple for driving up costs by requiring them to buy apps exclusively from its online market, thereby locking out third-party tools. Apple’s argument probably doesn’t come as a surprise: Strict control over apps is necessary to protect customers from malware. A 2014 dismissal of the case was overturned in 2017, and now the country’s highest court will render a ruling on whether or not users can sue Apple for being a monopoly. The court’s decision probably won’t affect the company’s adult content policies — but it highlights how powerful of a force its App Store can be.
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