Tumblr will now allow nudity but not explicit sex

Illustration: The Verge

Tumblr has made an update it hinted at in September, changing its rules to allow nudity — but not sexually explicit images — on the platform.

The company updated its community guidelines earlier today, laying out a set of rules that stops short of its earlier permissive attitude toward sexuality but that formally allows a wider range of imagery. “We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form). So, even if your creations contain nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes, you can now share them on Tumblr using the appropriate Community Label,” the post says. “Visual depictions of sexually explicit acts remain off-limits on Tumblr.”

A help center post and the community guidelines offer a little more detail. They say that “text, images, and videos that contain nudity, offensive language, sexual themes, or mature subject matter” is allowed on Tumblr, but “visual depictions of sexually explicit acts (or content with an overt focus on genitalia)” aren’t. There’s an exception for “historically significant art that you may find in a mainstream museum and which depicts sex acts — such as from India’s Śuṅga Empire,” although it must be labeled with a mature content or “sexual themes” tag so that users can filter it from their dashboards.

“Nudity and other kinds of adult material are generally welcome. We’re not here to judge your art, we just ask that you add a Community Label to your mature content so that people can choose to filter it out of their Dashboard if they prefer,” say the community guidelines. However, users can’t post links or ads to “adult-oriented affiliate networks,” they can’t advertise “escort or erotic services,” and they can’t post content that “promotes pedophilia,” including “sexually suggestive” content with images of children.

Tumblr banned adult content (including “female-presenting nipples”) in 2018 while owned by Verizon, which later sold the company to WordPress.com owner Automattic. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg said in late September that fully overturning the ban wasn’t feasible, in large part because internet infrastructure services — like payment processors and Apple’s iOS App Store — typically frown on explicit adult content. However, Mullenweg said he hoped to bring Tumblr’s policy more in line with that of WordPress.com, which also bans sexually explicit imagery but offers less nebulous protections for nudity in art.