Still, it’s a long way from zero visits in December, and more than some other sites have experienced. Though billed as an NSFW Tumblr replacement, newTumbl intends to evolve into much more, says cofounder Dean Abramson. But at least three other sites appear to be blooming. Natural selection has weeded out many of them, such as the flopped Cumblr.
Like a fire that clears out miles of forest, Tumblr’s porn ban has created an ecological niche for new not-safe-for-work (NSFW) friendly sites to take root. That’s despite Tumblr’s return to the App Store in December. and internationally, according to analytics firm SimilarWeb–from 558 million to 376 million monthly visits globally. From the pre-controversy month of October 2018 through April 2019, it’s dropped by about a third–both in the U.S. Meanwhile, Tumblr’s web traffic has–er, tumbled. (Imagery that just barely hides private parts seems to still be allowed.) The ban prohibited not just hardcore porn, but even the humble female nipple. That kick-started Verizon-owned Tumblr to enact a policy change it says was already planned: a blanket ban on virtually all “adult content” images and videos (but not text)–starting on December 17, 2018.
