In 2018, Tumblr content deemed sexually explicit orNSFW was banned.
The controversial policy led to amass exodusfrom the site, the so-calledTumblr apocalypse.
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In spite of that, Tumblr remains a home to art, fandom, memes, and social critique.
This is partly due to the flexibility of the main user interfaces.
Such openness also facilitated the rise in NSFW content that became a core part of Tumblrs identity.
And for those who produced their own NSFW content, Tumblrs leniencymeantincome.
In 2013,after Yahoo acquired Tumblr, there was concern that the platform would tighten its content policies.
However, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer promised Tumblr usersthat little would change.
Events that followed, however, would transform Tumblr.
First, in 2017,Verizon Communications bought Yahoo.
Later that year,Karp left the company.
That November, Apple Storeremoved the Tumblr appafter child sexual abuse material was found on the site.
Weeks later, Tumblr announced a ban on NSFW content that went into effect on Dec. 17, 2018.
But that same month,Vox reportedthat the NSFW ban was underway well before the Apple Store controversy.
The objective: to sell more ads.
Tumblrs various parent companies have long tried to monetize a platformhistorically resistant to traditional advertising.
The ban became a way to attract companies hesitant to advertise alongside pornography.
The disconnect between how the two sides envisioned the platform ended up being mutually destructive.
While Tumblrs user culture was irreparably damaged, its corporate side also suffered, experiencingmassive drops in site traffic.
The end or a new beginning?
Whileclashes over site policypersist to this day, Ive started to see talk about Tumblrs possible resurgence.
Even before Musks Twitter announcement, the platform seemed to be making strides in regaining public interest and relevancy.
Fan cultures for newer shows like Euphoria and Succession have also flourished on the site.
And in meme culture, Tumblr humor typified by a dry, absurdist and self-deprecatory wit continues tocirculatewidelyonline.
But Tumblrs resurrection seems to rely primarily ona youth culture in the grips of nostalgiafor the early 2010s.
Its renewed popularity was affirmed earlier this year withVogues coverageof the 2014 Tumblr Girl aesthetic.
The TikTok roadblock
But alongside these glimmers of regeneration, Tumblr faces two key obstacles.
The first is the ascent of TikTok.
With TikTok as the beating heart of online youth culture, Tumblr is pushed further to its edges.
The second is Tumblr itself.
One need only look at responses toTumblrstweetsin the wake of Musks acquisition announcement.
And so contradictory forces shape Tumblrs standing.
On the one hand, the memory of Tumblr keeps it alive in popular culture.
Such a frame often operates according to a capitalist logic in which growth means life and stagnation signals death.
Attention to the in-between reveals a more complex relationship between users, platforms, and owners.
It is here the savviness ofsocial mediausers is on display.
Tumblr is a case in point.
This article byJeanna Sybert, Ph.D.
Candidate in Communication,University of Pennsylvania, is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license.
