A former staff engineer, who recently left Tumblr and asked to remain
anonymous for professional reasons, tells Vox that the NSFW ban was “in
the works for about six months as an official project,” adding that it
was given additional resources and named “Project X” in September,
shortly before it was announced to the rest of the company at an
all-hands meeting. “[The NSFW ban] was going to happen anyway,” the
former engineer told me. “Verizon pushed it out the door after the child
pornography thing and made the deadline sooner,” but the real problem
was always that Verizon couldn’t sell ads next to porn.
Porn on Tumblr is something Verizon needs to wipe out if it’s going to
make any money off what it thinks is actually valuable about the
platform — enormous fandom and social justice communities that, just
before the Verizon acquisition, Khalaf was insisting the staff figure
out how to better monetize.
On that note-
Two former Tumblr employees said they were alarmed when Khalaf chose
Black Lives Matter as an example of a community that the company should
focus on converting into Yahoo media consumers. One told The Verge,
“Simon explicitly said that Black Lives Matter was an opportunity to
[make] a ton of money.”
In honor of International Women’s Day, check out these young activists doing their part to make the world a more inclusive place.
Emma González
A survivor of the recent tragedies in Parkland, Emma is at the forefront of the #NeverAgain gun control movement taking the nation by storm. But don’t get it twisted … Emma is no newbie to social justice. She is vocal about her family’s immigrant identity and helps lead her school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. Repeat after me: “Emma González 2036, Emma González 2036, Emma Gonzá…”
Blair Imani
Blair is proud of her intersectional identity as a black, queer Muslim and is passionate about gender equity. When she isn’t running her education foundation for women and non-binary folks, Equality for HER, Blair can be found protesting racial injustice and police brutality. Who says you can’t do it all???
Lauren Jauregui
I mean, how could I not include her on this list??? From calling out politicians on inhumane policies like the Muslim Ban to demanding protections for young undocumented Americans, this Fifth Harmony star is not afraid to use her platform to help others. Lauren J is my favorite pop-queen-turned-social-activist and I want everyone to know it!!
Alice Brown Otter
When she was just 12 years old, Alice ran 1,519 miles from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to Washington, D.C. to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. If this young activist doesn’t inspire us all to make impact in our communities then I don’t know what will!!
Eva Maria Lewis
Eva is a brave high school student who helped to lead a sit-in protest of over 1,000 activists in Chicago to protest gun violence and police brutality. Compelled to action by the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012, Eva helped found Youth for Black Lives, a Chicago youth-led racial justice organization. Do yourself a favor and watch the chilling TED Talk she gave … you’ll thank me later 🙂
Aly Raisman
Most know Aly as an Olympic gold-medalist and member of the “Fierce Five” 2012 U.S. gymnastics team. Today we are celebrating her for her bravery in the #MeToo movement. Aly continues to spread messages of body positivity and encourages fellow survivors to use their voices to empower each other. We can all be more like Aly!!
Tumblr Exodus 