Tumblr recently released an upgrade to its iOS software, that complies with Apple‘s App Store Guidelines, which limit sensitive information. They banned some commonly used tags including words related to the manga and anime industry.

Some related to fetishes such as anime girl, armpits, belly, boyslove, DILF, feet, high heels, lolita, MILF, among many others were banned in the process.

The whole list of banned words is available in this document.

According to Forbes, the company has gone too far, and now regularly used tags, even those that are applied by default to user posts, are practically prohibited on the site.

A Tumblr user with a blog titled “bannedtags” collected over 400 tags so far that appear to be restricted on iOS.

Some of the terms on the list are sexually explicit or aggressive expressions. There are also some potentially controversial tags such as ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards), selfie, bald, transphobia, 420 (related to marijuana use), me ( I ), girl, about, dysphoria ( antonym of euphoria ), Eugene Levy ( an American Pie actor ), trauma, racism, etc.

Tumblr issued an official statement on the day of the banning (with no prior notification), saying that the new rule will affect searches, blogs, and recommendations. 

Posts that have been tagged with language that breaches Apple’s sensitive content limits will no longer be visible using these methods under the new guidelines.

Posts with prohibited tags will not appear in search results, may prevent specific posts from appearing in a user’s dashboard, and may result in a user’s blog being blocked entirely via the iOS app.

This isn’t the first time Tumblr thumped the ban hammer on the users out of nowhere. The prominent first ban was on Dec 17, 2018, when Tumblr implemented its adult content purge in response to similar restrictions from Apple.

However, the Android app and the Tumblr desktop app appear to be unaffected by the change so far.

Additionally, since some terms specific and essential to Tumblr’s function which has been flagged distressed the users, the company promised to look into those issues in order to introduce “more functionality for a less constrained iOS app experience.”

Source: Forbes via Kudasai