An automated moderation bug sent Tumblr users into a panic

Tumblr users were left in disarray on Wednesday after dozens of accounts were banned on the same day by an automated system. Many users have been contacted Edge about the incident, claiming that the wave of bans appeared to have disproportionately affected accounts run by users who identify as trans women, many of whom were given no specific reason as to why their accounts were terminated. Screenshots from Email received by some users Their ban notice states, “This action was taken as a result of an internally generated report. Automated means may have been used to identify the content in question.”

Chinda Njak, head of communications at Tumblr’s parent company Automattic, confirmed the ban in a statement to EdgeBut he said many were wrong and were reversed. “We are constantly working to maintain the integrity of the platform and adapt our systems to prevent bad actors from spreading harm. In the process, our automated system incorrectly flagged multiple users, including, but not limited to, members of the transgender community. We have disabled this system and recovered these users as we work to improve it. We deeply apologize to everyone affected by this error.”

Wednesday’s wave of bans came just one day after Tumblr It reflected a controversial change in its reblogging system Earlier this week, which angered many platform users. Some users who have contacted Edge He suggested the ban may have been in response to posts expressing opposition to the change, but Najak stated that “the reported terminated accounts are not related to the recent discussion about reblogging.” Najak also added that “there is no evidence that transgender users were disproportionately among the 200 sub-accounts affected.”

However, many users who contacted Edge He expressed concerns about the history of moderation issues on Tumblr, some of which related to trans users in particular. In 2024, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg I got into a public dispute With a Tumblr user who used predestrogens and identifies as trans. Predstrogen shared frustrated posts about Tumblr’s lack of action in response to the alleged harassment she was facing, leading her to eventually post that she hoped Tumblr’s CEO would die an “eternally painful death involving a car covered in hammers that explodes more than a few times and hammers fly everywhere.” Predstrogen’s Tumblr account was subsequently banned, but the dispute continued on other social media platforms, where Mullenweg shared details of the private account, including the names of Predstrogen’s side blogs on Tumblr.

This is also not the first time Tumblr has faced issues with automated content moderation. In 2022, It was settled with the New York City Human Rights Commission (CCHR) on allegations of discrimination arising from the ban on adult content in 2018, which furthermore Overall accuracy problems It reportedly disproportionately affected LGBTQ+ content. The ban was imposed prior to Automattic’s 2019 acquisition of Tumblr, which was implemented through its company Previous owner Verizon. The CCHR settlement required a review of Tumblr’s moderation algorithms and required Tumblr to make changes to its user appeal process to address algorithmic bias.

Automattic has been downsizing its plans for Tumblr in recent years. In 2023, after the site failed to meet its growth targets, Mullenweg confirmed to Edge The “majority” of the platform’s support, safety, and supervisory staff have been transferred to other departments.