Tumblr has been banning a host of tags from its iOS app in an effort to comply with Apple’s app review policies.
Some of the banned tags make sense for a platform trying to scrub itself of sensitive content — “porn,” “drugs” and “sex” are banned, for instance. Others are incomprehensible (or troubling if you think about them for too long), like the aforementioned “Tony the Tiger” and “Eugene Levy.” Even tags with the numbers 69 and 420 are banned.
Tumblr has launched a subscription plan in beta called Post+. It’s a way to help creators make money by letting them charge for blogging access.
As a creator you’ll set up an account for payments in a quick and easy process. You’ll then be able to make a +Post (a post with a paywall), only viewable to you and your supporters. You’ll also be able to offer supporter-exclusive perks.
As a supporter, you’ll back the creators you love with a monthly subscription, giving you access to exclusive content and perks.
John Martellaro and Charlotte Henry join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Tumblr (under Automattic) taking on Facebook, and iPhone nomenclature.
Automattic, the company behind WordPress, just bought Tumblr from Verizon for less than US$3 million. Verizon had acquired the site from Yahoo for US$1.1 billion.
As part of the deal, Automattic will gain 200 staffers from Tumblr. Verizon is said to have discussed a sale of Tumblr with a handful of different companies but ultimately landed on Automattic. “The sale price isn’t material to Verizon,” today’s report says citing “people familiar with the matter.”
Before you get excited, know that the porn ban will remain in place.
After banning porn, Tumblr’s users have fled the platform. Now Verizon Media Group is looking to sell it off.
It’s tough to say which media company might be in the market for Tumblr at this point. The once white-hot platform doesn’t hold the same sort of cache it did when it was purchased half a decade ago. Notably, Tumblr also lost its CTO to SeatGeek earlier this week.
I love serendipitous moments in life. For example, last night I read that Verizon wants to sell Tumblr. I immediately thought to myself, “PornHub should definitely buy it.” An hour later, BuzzFeed News wrote that, indeed, PornHub is interested.
Bryan Chaffin is joined by Chuck Joiner from MacVoices to discuss Facebook’s ongoing crisis of blunders and mistakes, and whether or not CEO Mark Zuckerberg should go. They also look at what seems to be Tumblr’s real-time death spiral, and debate whether or not Wall Street is punishing Apple for not reporting iPhone sales and whether or not that’s OK.
A Tumblr porn ban will go into effect December 17. The new policy follows the recent child pornography incident the platform suffered.
Child pornography got through the filters on Tumblr, leading to the app being removed from the iOS app store over the weekend.
Over weekend iOS users found that the Tumblr iOS app had disappeared from the App Store. As of this writing it’s still not there.
