Tumblr Suffers 150-Million Dip in Traffic After Porn Ban

Last December, Tumblr made the decision to ban all explicit content from their blogging platform. As of February, the total amount of Tumblr’s monthly page views has plummeted from 521 million to 370 million, PinkNews reports.

Tumblr made the controversial decision after Apple banned its official app from the App Store because of the unmoderated sharing of child pornography. Instead of cracking down on those particular users, Tumblr chose to ban all explicit content to get its app reinstated in the App Store.

And that decision has cost them 29 percent of their traffic.

For many LGBTQ people, Tumblr was the first entryway into queer sexuality where one could begin to figure out who they were and what they liked. That content, next to RuPaul’s Drag Race shit-posts and gay culture memes, helped many isolated gay kids find their community, even if it was virtual.

“The Tumblr ban on adult content will affect queer and trans users by taking away a vital social component to a community that is bound together by their sexual orientation and sexual desire,” artist Courtney Trouble told PinkNews. “Without social media that allows this kind of exploration, we are losing a lot.”

That ban is not only a loss for LGBTQ people, it’s a huge loss for Tumblr.