Tumblr is stepping up censorship in its iOS app. The social network wants to comply with the latest Apple guidelines for the App Store, which results in particularly significant restrictions.
Tumblr’s iOS application severely restricts access to content posted by users of the social network. The publisher has announced several changes that heavily censor “sensitive” content. We know that Apple is hunting naughty content in the applications distributed in its store, but some may find that it goes very far.
Amazing censored words
Tumblr’s iOS app thus reduces the reach of its search engine results. If a term or phrase is considered to refer to sensitive content, fewer results will be found than in the past. In some cases, the application will display an error message (illustration above), with the inability to view the content even if the user is of the required age.
This censorship goes through a list of keywords, some of which are very surprising. A user listed them in a Google Doc file, there are terms like ” single parent “(” single parent “),” suicide prevention ” or ” medicine “. A very large selection that has little to do with pornography …
Tumblr explains working on ” new features allowing for a slightly more flexible and less restrictive experience on the iOS application “, But we will have to be content with a highly censored application in the meantime. The social network does not hide the reason why it has to go through this: these changes are necessary ” so that our application can continue to be present on the App Store “.
Two other measures are in place to comply with Apple’s guidelines. Blogs containing sensitive content will no longer be visible when you click on its header. And the tickets suggested in the “Subscriptions” and “For you” tabs of the dashboard will be fewer than before.
