Tumblr allows nudity back on its platform – but not sexually explicit images

New guidelines allow broader range of imagery including the ‘naked human form’

Tumblr has updated its community guidelines to allow nudity even though it has maintained that sexually explicit posts are still “off limits”.

The platform’s ban on content deemed not safe for work (NSFW) had come into effect in December 2018 and went beyond illegal content, banning “photos, videos, or Gifs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content – including photos, videos, Gifs and illustrations – that depict sex acts.”

The company has now reversed these guidelines, formally allowing a broader range of imagery, including the “naked human form”.

“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),” the company noted.

“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,” it said.

However, the platform has said that visual depictions of sexually explicit acts are still “off-limits”.

Further clarifying the changes in a help centre post, the social media company said while “text, images, and videos that contain nudity, offensive language, sexual themes, or mature subject matter” are allowed on Tumblr, “visual depictions of sexually explicit acts (or content with an overt focus on genitalia)” are not.

User content on historically significant art depicting sex acts that one may find in a mainstream museum “such as from India’s Śuṅga Empire,” is also now allowed on the platform, the company added.

“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,” it said.

When Tumblr was owned by Verizon in 2018, it explicitly banned adult content, including “female-presenting nipples” after the discovery of child sexual abuse imagery on its blogs.

The company was then sold to Wordpress.com owner Automattic, whose chief hinted in September that while fully overturning the ban wasn’t feasible, it might loosen restrictions on some content with the introduction of the Community Labels filtering feature.

“We hope this shift creates more room for artistic expression to flourish on Tumblr while empowering each of you to craft your own experience and safely explore and discover the things you love,” the company said in its new guidelines.