Tumblr is the latest tech company working on automated flags and takedowns.
Recently, Tumblr users have complained that their content is flagged as “mature.” This issue reduced the visibility of users’ posts as many people on the platform configured their settings to hide mature content by default.
According to numerous posts from affected Tumblr users, despite not being sexual or violent, the posts were accidentally flagged, and these false takedowns include everything from cat gifs to fandom content, art, and even hand photos. Some suspect that AI-based automation could condemn the issue.
Similar accusations have been wreaking havoc on other social media platforms in recent weeks. For example, Pinterest ultimately admitted that internal errors led to mass bans. Meanwhile, this week, Instagram declined to comment on its own troubles regarding the mass ban, which users said has been told there is little coverage or attention paid to online complaints about apps like X and Reddit.
In both cases, users doubted that AI-based moderation was liable, but Pinterest denied that it was.
Tumblr says the flag issue is associated with Android app updates, and the company is experimenting with improving its mature content filtering system. Specifically, it was testing a new mitigation layer for content labels, the company told TechCrunch.
A spokesman for Tumblr said the experiment is ongoing and will improve upon changes before they are deployed to other platforms based on user feedback.
“As we work to make Tumblr a safer place for all users, we aim to respect the diverse interests and content preferences that can be adjusted in our settings. We see this as an ongoing process of continuing to fine-tune how we detect and deal with mature content.”
The company also acknowledged the blog issue and answered user questions about posts that were incorrectly flagged. It was here that the Tumblr team was aware of the “misclassification issues” and was actively working to reduce them.
Additionally, the post explained that Tumblr’s appeal process is being updated in the coming weeks, allowing more cases to be handled. (Tumblr did not respond to questions regarding planned changes to the appeal process.)
It is not clear whether AI or other automation will be responsible, as Tumblr does not specifically talk about the cause of the new problem. However, reducing staffing for blog services may also play a role.
Following the 2019 acquisition by WordPress.com Maker Automattic, Tumblr is facing layoffs as staff have been reassigned to other projects in the parent company. Last year, Automattic announced that Tumblr backends would also be moved to WordPress to make management easier and reduce economic losses.