THE BLOGGING website Tumblr is to ban blogs that promote self-harm. The site hosts 46.2 million blogs, which receive 13 billion hits a month.
Users had been free to post any content and could comment on content published by other users. But now blogs that promote anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders will be banned, along with content that glorifies self-mutilation or suicide.
In a statement on its site, the company said: “There are messages and points of view that we strongly oppose and don’t want to be hosting.”
The site will also start posting what it calls public service announcements whenever users search for terms such as “anorexia”, “anorexic”, “bulimia”, “bulimic”, “thinspiration”, “thinspo”, “proana”, “purge” and “purging”. These announcements will direct users to organisations that provide support and help.
Blogs documenting the experiences of those suffering from conditions such as anorexia, bulimia, and other forms of self-injury will be allowed to stand.
“We will apply this policy on a blog-by-blog basis. There won’t be any wholesale suspension based on tags or text. We’re not under the illusion that it will be easy to draw the line between blogs that are intended to trigger self-harm and those that support sufferers and build community, but we will do our best,” the company said.