Tumblr, still not blocked in China, soon to offer Chinese version

Free blogging and social networking site Tumblr is working on a Chinese version of its platform, according to iFanr. Some Tumblr users in China received invites to join the closed beta test of the translated site.

While blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger are blocked by China’s Great Firewall on the mainland, Tumblr is not (I used it to blog before starting this job for that reason). That’s probably due to the site not having a Chinese version and most of the content being more fun and shareable rather than serious and informative.

Tumblr is now available in 13 different languages, including Korean and Japanese.

While Tumblr has somehow managed to elude China’s censors, the free ride might not last much longer if a Chinese version becomes available. If even a small portion of Chinese users post content that authorities deem sensitive, it could be lights out for the site on the mainland, just like its other Western counterparts.

One commenter on iFanr, a Tumblr blogger from China, said he or she “sincerely hopes Tumblr does not enter China” because not many people there know about it. If more people know, then it’s more likely to get censored. “I do not want to move somewhere else and blog,” the commenter says.

Another person points out, “Too much porn … can not enter unless they set up separate servers.”

Porn is illegal in China and most adult-only content is blocked.

Medium is also not blocked in China.

Yahoo acquired Tumblr in 2013 for US$1.1 billion.

See: Real-name system coming to Weibo, Tieba, and other Chinese websites (for real this time)

(Source: iFanr)