Tumblr Removes All Reblogs Promoting Hate Speech

Tumblr is removing all reblogs promoting hate speech. With a particular focus on hate speech from white supremacists. Furthermore, the social media platform has committed to continue deleting reblogs found to be in violation of its community guidelines.

Tumblr Was Late Cracking Down on Hate Speech

In August 2018, Tumblr updated its community guidelines

Tumblr Finally Cracks Down on Hate Speech
Tumblr is changing its community guidelines to crack down on hate speech, violent threats, and non-consensual sexual content.
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. This represented a crackdown on hate speech, violent threats, and non-consensual sexual content. Tumblr was behind the curve on this, with Reddit especially leading the way in this regard.

However, due to the way Tumblr works, lots of hateful content appears to have fallen through the cracks. Essentially, while the original blogs posting hate speech were removed, reblogs of that same content has stayed up on the site. Until now.

Tumblr Deletes Millions of Hateful Reblogs

In a post on the Tumblr Staff Blog, Tumblr explains how it’s further cracking down on hate speech. It has identified almost 1,000 blogs that were previously suspended for violating the rules on hate speech, and sought to delete reblogs from these blogs.

Tumblr has already removed 4.47 million reblogs, and is committed to continue doing so as and when necessary. While there’s a chance that these reblogs offered a counter-point to the hate speech, Tumblr has decided it’s best to just remove it all.

While removing reblogs promoting hate speech would seem to be a wholly sensible thing to do, Tumblr is bound to face charges that it’s limiting free speech. In fact, Tumblr has issued a statement on this issue in an attempt to get ahead of the haters, saying:

“We are, and will always remain, steadfast believers in free speech. Tumblr is a place where you can be yourself and express your opinions. Hate speech is not conducive to that.

When hate speech goes unchecked, it eventually silences the voices that add kindness and value to our society. That’s not the kind of Tumblr any of us want.”