Tumblr’s wonky algorithm is flagging innocent posts as adult content

Tumblr announced Monday that it would be cracking down on NSFW content as of Dec. 17. While not booting anyone or outright deleting posts, the platform will start to flag any post that violates its new guidelines; the content will be hidden from everyone except the original poster.

Posts that violate the new rules? Any image, GIF or video depicting a sexual act, as well as full-frontal nudity and “female-presenting nipples.” The guidelines say that nudity for educational, medical or protest purposes, as well as non-sexual illustrations, won’t be flagged. If you’re not a NSFW-blog and have no interest in NSFW material, shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Well, herein lies the problem: Tumblr’s algorithm is botched.

It’s so botched that completely innocent posts are coming up as flagged. Seems that if it’s vaguely flesh-colored or has shapes resembling humans, the post might be marked as inappropriate. All this nice fan art? Flagged.

This heartwarming moment on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? Not for young eyes.

Though Tumblr insisted that art and sculpture would be protected, its algorithm says otherwise.

Even if the content doesn’t contain any humans, it’s suspect.

Many posts depicting LGBTQ individuals have also reportedly been flagged. This, and likely other family-friendly content that’s marked explicit, appears to be the result of the algorithm’s incompetence versus a deliberate measure on Tumblr’s part. The labeling has been wildly inconsistent across the board, but nothing can be confirmed.

Oh so poetically and ironically, an article on censor bots that accidentally declared desert pictures as pornography also got flagged.

To be clear — flagging doesn’t mean the post is deleted or that the user is blocked. On an actual blog page, no banner will pop up; it’s solely on the dashboard, as of now. It’s a warning for when the guidelines do drop, and the blog owners who originally posted the content can appeal the flags.

Still, considering how many false positives are coming up, the looming onset of the new policies is unsettling, even for those who don’t post much NSFW content.

We reached out to Tumblr about the false positives generated by its flagging algorithm — and whether it plans to adjust the algorithm — and will update as necessary.