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Tumblr Traffic Plummets After Porn Ban

In December, Tumblr had an estimated 520 million visits, which dropped to 436 million in January, and then 369 million in February, according to SimilarWeb's data.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Tumblr's porn ban has apparently resulted in a major online traffic decrease.

Traffic to Tumblr has fallen by close to 30 percent since December, when the blogging platform banned adult content, according to market intelligence firm SimilarWeb.

In December, Tumblr had an estimated 520 million visits, which dropped to 436 million in January and then 369 million in February, according to SimilarWeb's data.

SimilarWeb Tumblr

The traffic numbers, which were first reported by TheNextWeb, are hardly a surprise. For years, Tumblr was a popular way for porn enthusiasts and erotic artists to share adult content. But in November, the platform had its iOS app yanked from the Apple App Store after child pornography was found on the site.

Not long after, Tumblr announced a ban on adult content beginning Dec. 17. However, the platform said it had been considering the change for months as a way to welcome more users.

"We spent considerable time weighing the pros and cons of expression in the community that includes adult content. In doing so, it became clear that without this content we have the opportunity to create a place where more people feel comfortable expressing themselves," Tumblr's CEO Jeff D'Onofrio said at the time.

However, the ban sparked an uproar among erotic artists and sex workers who had been promoting their projects on Tumblr. As a result, many had no choice but to leave the site and try other, lesser-known platforms, such as Mastodon and Pillowfort.

It didn't help that Tumblr's attempts to block adult content ensnared many legitimate blogs that were free of porn. To enforce the ban, the platform used computer algorithms that sometimes struggled to distinguish porn from pictures of dogs, Jesus, and superheroes.

In response to the reported traffic drop, a Tumblr spokesperson said: "We made a strategic decision for the business that better positions it for long-term growth among more types of users. This was the right decision."

A separate website ranking firm, Alexa, has also slightly downgraded Tumblr's website ranking since the porn ban. However, the blogging platform is still the 68th most visited website in the world, according to Alexa.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with more context about Tumblr's decision to ban certain adult content.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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