Tumblr will ban posts containing sexually explicit images from December 17. That’s what the site has announced. There is already criticism of the algorithms that have been active from Monday and that some posts have already incorrectly marked as explicit.
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With the move, Tumblr aims to be a site where more people can feel safe and express themselves, Tumblr writes. It is unknown if it has anything to do with the recent audit, which found child pornography on Tumblr. The company has adjusted the conditions to express that explicit images are no longer possible. There are exceptions: the company does not want to classify classical works of art and breastfeeding as explicit material.
Tumblr says in advance that tweaking algorithms to detect this is difficult. “We rely on automated tools to identify adult content and help people train and control the systems. We know we will make mistakes, but we’ve done our best to create and enforce policies that recognizes the breadth of expression we see in our community.”
The filters have been active since Monday and have already made some mistakes. Users have already observed that the algorithm incorrectly marked posts as explicit material. Tumblr hasn’t commented on that yet.