Tumblr has been taking down blogs for repeated copyright infringement recently (Bulletin, 17-Feb-15). Now it’s emerged that the site has hidden posts tagged with ‘torrent’ behind its safe mode, which was introduced last year for adult content. As TorrentFreak explains, anyone searching for ‘torrent’ on Tumblr will receive no results, unless they take the step of turning off the safe mode.
The developer who discovered the change is unimpressed: “Amusingly, the first result for us is pictures of water flowing over rocks.. so, non-adults feel safe, Tumblr will protect you against pictures of the outdoors,” they wrote. A straw man argument if we ever heard one: we don’t have firm stats for the percentage of web searches for ‘torrent’ that are looking for rapidly-flowing water, but we’d wager they’re more of a trickle.
Music Ally’s next Learn Live webinar will help you understand what’s required for artists to thrive in new international markets!