On Wednesday, Tumblr’s automated system banned ‘Sub-200’ accounts, some of which were mistakenly flagged.
On Wednesday, Tumblr’s automated system banned ‘Sub-200’ accounts, some of which were mistakenly flagged.
On Wednesday, Tumblr users found themselves in disarray after an automated system banned numerous accounts in a single afternoon. Many users reached out to The Verge regarding the incident, indicating that the mass bans disproportionately affected accounts managed by individuals identifying as trans women, many of whom received no clear explanation for their account termination. Emails sent to some users regarding the bans stated, “This action was taken as a result of an internally-generated report. Automated means may have been utilized to identify the content in question.”
Chenda Ngak, communications lead at Tumblr’s parent company Automattic, validated the bans in a statement to The Verge, noting that many were erroneous and had since been reversed. “We continually strive to uphold platform health and adjust our systems to obstruct harmful elements. In this effort, our automated system incorrectly flagged several users, including, but not limited to, members of the trans community. We have disabled that system and reinstated those users while we enhance it. We deeply apologize to anyone affected by this mistake.”
The series of bans on Wednesday emerged just a day after Tumblr rescinded a controversial modification to its reblogging feature this week, which incited outrage among many users of the platform. A few users who reached out to The Verge suggested that the bans might be in response to posts opposing the modification, but Ngak emphasized that, “The reported terminated accounts are not linked to the recent discourse surrounding reblogs.” Ngak further added that “there is no proof that trans users were disproportionately represented among the sub-200 accounts affected.”
However, numerous users who contacted The Verge voiced apprehensions regarding a pattern of moderation problems on Tumblr, particularly involving trans users. In 2024, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg engaged in a public dispute with a Tumblr user known as predstrogen who identified as trans. Predstrogen expressed frustration over Tumblr’s inaction in the face of alleged harassment, eventually stating a desire for Tumblr’s CEO to “experience a painful demise involving a car enveloped in hammers that explodes multiple times, scattering hammers everywhere.” Following this, predstrogen’s Tumblr account was banned, while the dispute persisted on other social media platforms, where Mullenweg disclosed private account information, including predstrogen’s side blog names on Tumblr.
This incident is not the first occasion Tumblr has encountered challenges with automated content moderation. In 2022, Tumblr settled with the New York City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) over claims of discrimination arising from an adult content ban enacted in 2018, which alongside widespread accuracy issues allegedly had a disproportionately negative effect on LGBTQ+ content. This ban was implemented before Automattic’s acquisition of Tumblr in 2019, by its former owner Verizon. CCHR’s settlement mandated a review of Tumblr’s moderation algorithms and required the platform to revise its user appeals process to combat algorithmic bias.
In recent years, Automattic has scaled back its aspirations for Tumblr. In 2023, after the platform failed to meet growth objectives, Mullenweg informed The Verge that “the majority” of the platform’s non-support, safety, and moderation personnel were being reassigned to different divisions.
