Tumblr is no more. Image credit: TIA.
File this under “it was only a matter of time.” US-based blogging juggernaut Tumblr now joins the ranks of Medium, Twitter, and countless other foreign media platforms to be censored in China.
According to tests, all [name].tumblr.com domains have been blocked in China since early this morning.
Tumblr, owned by Yahoo since 2013, had previously seen specific pages of its domain censored in the mainland, particularly those dealing with risque or political content. But as of today, all of the pages on the domain, whether controversial or utterly innocuous, are inaccessible.
We’ve reached out to Tumblr for comment, and will update this post if we hear back. Update: A tumblr rep says the company is “aware and looking into the situation.”
Only a matter of time
Tumblr may have been blocked because it hosted some porn, or perhaps the censorship is linked to today’s revelations that a 2013 data breach exposed the information of far more users than had origianlly been thought.
Porn is illegal in China, and there is a lot of porn on Tumblr.
There’s decent reason to think the blockage may be related to the former – porn is illegal in China, and there is a lot of porn on Tumblr. Google the words “Tumblr China” (uh, not while at work) and it’s one of the first results. Search “Chinese Tumblr,” and porn is also at the top. I Google’d “Safe for work Tumblr” and the top link was porn.
Chinese authorities have been particularly on edge about pornographic content lately. The attitude comes after a particularly salacious video went viral last week on a number of domestic platforms – and also migrated over to foreign sites like Tumblr and YouTube.
But sexy video or not, it’s likely that Tumblr’s days in the mainland were numbered. Most other Tumblr-esque services, from Medium to Blogspot, have been blocked in the country for some time.
In the ruined remains of foreign social networks, only Reddit inexplicably stays accessible – but we might get an article ready just in case.
H/T That’s Mags
Editing by Osman Husain
(And yes, we’re serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
