Tumblr’s Explicit Content Algorithms Are Off To A Bad Start

Tumblr is known for being a microblogging platform and in a way it seems like a cross between platforms like Blogspot and Twitter. However the platform has also been come to known as a place where you can find porn and other adult content, something which the company has announced that they would be cracking down on.

Come 17th of December, 2018, Tumblr announced that they plan to rid its platform of all pornographic content, and would be using a system of computers and humans to review such content to make sure it never makes it onto their platform. Unfortunately it seems that their algorithms are off to a bad start as there have been a slew of users claiming that their posts have been incorrectly flagged.

For example a tweet by illustrator Alisa claims that Tumblr’s algorithms managed to flag almost all of her work, despite the fact that they are essentially drawings and sketches of animals and (fully-clothed) people. What it seemed to have missed was the drawing containing a human nipple, which in itself isn’t a bad thing, but in theory should have been the thing that was flagged.

Other users are claiming that Tumblr’s algorithms have flagged inanimate and totally innocuous objects like a vase. To be fair, Tumblr did admit that mistakes will be made at the start where they say, “We’re relying on automated tools to identify adult content and humans to help train and keep our systems in check. We know there will be mistakes, but we’ve done our best to create and enforce a policy that acknowledges the breadth of expression we see in the community.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: tumblr