An entire country just completely banned Tumblr for “pornographic” content

Josh Barrie Read more February 17, 2016

Like it or not, there’s a lot of pornography on Tumblr.

An entire country just completely banned Tumblr for “pornographic” content

There’s a lot of other stimulating content that doesn’t involve nakedness too, of course. But, browse through the labyrinth of internet mystery, and you’ll likely be met with something untoward.

It’s for this reason that Indonesia has completely banned the blogging site. The BBC has reported that the country’s Information Ministry decided to block Tumblr simply because of its “pornographic content”.

Out of the most famous blogging and social media platforms online, Tumblr allows what would be deemed “X-rated” on a DVD. It sets the site aside from the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

But it remains fiercely popular. It has 110 million registered users and about a third of these are active.

Indonesia has a population of nearly 250 million. Even if just 1% of the population use Tumblr, that’s a fair chunk of its user base. And while this is all hypothetical, it remains poignant that a whole nation has decided to pull the plug on what’s usually thought to be a pretty normal part of the internet.

Still, Indonisia hasn’t just blocked Tumblr. The Muslim-majority country has also banned 477 other sites, local media outlets report. Bloggers have been arrested before and, in 2015, Vimeo was also blocked for “pornographic content”.

So the government is tight with media. It even moved to block a number of “gay” emojis this year, and might even ban messaging apps (such as Whatsapp) that feature same-sex couples.

Tumblr is fun. It’s probably true that a fair few people will miss the site in Indonesia.