American microblogging and social networking website, Tumblr has come with an update for its iOS app users in 2021 which restricts the users on usage of certain words and tags.
Tumblr made the announcement about the new changes being brought on its iOS app via its official website. Users seem to be not happy with these changes who even took to social media to share their opinions.
But why did Tumblr bring this change all of a sudden? Let us straightaway get into it.
Why did Tumblr ban certain terms for its iOS app users?
While revealing the new update, Tumblr shared that they have come up with this change as they need to comply with the guidelines of Apple’s App Store.
Tumblr’s iOS app update as shared by it on its website reads, “To remain available within Apple’s App Store, we are having to extend the definition of what sensitive content is as well as the way you access it in order to comply with their guidelines.”
According to the update shared by Tumblr, users can experience these changes in three important ways while using Tumblr’s iOS app namely Search, Blog access, and Dashboard.
With the new update, iOS users will be restricted or blocked from viewing any content that contains the terms or tags that are considered sensitive.
According to Tumblr’s statement, “When searching for certain terms or phrases that may fall under the expanded definition of sensitive content, you may experience fewer results from that query than you have in the past.”
Tumblr shared that under Blog access, “If you tap on a blog through the iOS Tumblr app that is flagged as explicit due to these changes, you will see the same message as above and will not be able to access that blog.”
When it comes to Dashboard, the iOS app users under our “stuff for you” and “following” sections might get to see fewer suggested posts post the new changes on the app.
What are the words banned from Tumblr, Users share them on Social Media
The exact timeline of when these changes will appear hasn’t been revealed as of now. However, Tumblr is said to be working towards bringing other features to the app so that Apple users will have to face fewer restrictions.
The statement further read, “While we don’t have an exact timeline for how long these changes will be in effect, we are working on additional features that will allow for a less restricted iOS app experience.”
According to what has been shared by some users on Twitter, the list of banned words on the Tumblr iOS app include ‘beard,’ ‘cream,’ ‘me,’ ‘mine,’ ‘girl’, ‘self’, ‘queue’, and ‘reblog’.
Few other words that are restricted by Tumblr include girl, girls, mental illness, skull, shower, me, tagged, racism, trauma, Tony the Tiger, triggers, insomnia, 420, suicide prevention, knives, among others.
Users have a mixed reaction to this ban by Tumblr. Most of the users feel that a ban on many of these words is not really needed.
Although a few are of the opinion that it is right on Tumblr’s part to strictly monitor its content, most of the users feel that it is “silly” of Tumblr to ban many such words which are actually non-sensitive.
What is your opinion on this whole story? Do share with us!
