I'm Not Tiny!You're Just Tall!

I need to get this out there. My family and I are struggling. And we are doing what we can to stay afloat right now... My kofi has a new goal set; Homelessness Prevention. If you have any to give thank you, if not just share. Talk about me 💕 commissions are open!

My incredible @prideknights patches have arrived, they’re STUNNING 😍

We all know that age verification sucks (right?), and we all know that the last thing Tumblr wants to do is to spend money that they dont have to lease a contract with a third party company so that it can make its website worse (right???).

If you want to not have to deal with the age verification bs, then you need to take part in your local politics. Because its not Tumblr that made that shitty decision, its the laws that have been passed in your countries.

If you want your data privacy, and if you dont want a business to decide what is and isnt child-friendly, then you need to speak the fuck up!

But not to Tumblr. I cannot emphasize enough just how little traction Tumblr has in politics.

Post about these laws! But not on Tumblr. Use X or Facebook (something with more reach and is more likely to be taken seriously). Call your representatives! Create communities that serve to build public trust and outreach. Educate people on basic internet safety (without acting condensending about it). The people making these decisions, and the people agreeing with them, are largely pulled along by a years-long marketing scheme that forces people to get used to not having data privacy and fear mongering about content moderation. And anyone against this is going to have to gently remind people that their data is theres and that their rights as humans is theirs and that they shouldnt need to verify jack to a website to access basic expressions of art and opinions.

I swear. We are heading towards a world where a fucking coffee maker is gonna demand personal ID and facial scans just to brew a cup of joe cause of this whole 'think of the children' moral outrage.

UK legislation: Online Safety Act 2023

Brazil legislation: Digital Statute For Children And Adolescents

Apple App Store Age Verification

These are not tumblr specific policies. Tumblr is implementing age verification in response to legislative moves that were made months ago.

Tumblr is a failing social media site that has escaped death multiple times already; they do not have the social cachet to defy state regulatory agencies. We know they won't say no to Apple, either--the porn ban on tumblr was in response to Apple's crackdown on explicit content.

If you did not know this was happening, you were behind the curve. That is fine. You're caught up now. The next step is to link up with people in your country who are working to preserve privacy, to roll back these laws where they exist, and to prevent their passage where they do not. In the US the organization you want is Stop KOSA--in the EU you can start with Fight Chat Control.

For the unaware: tumblr is implementing “age verification” for the UK and Brazil, partnered with the same company that just had a massive data breach of faces and IDs, and otherwise locking even long standing blogs to hiding “mature content”.

Tumblr’s TOS doesn’t even allow the porn these laws are meant to affect, with the mature content filter being EXTREMELY faulty, and mostly targeting marginalized groups.

BE POLITE

Jumping in with guns blazing and anger oozing out of each word isn't going to make your message sound more important. To enact change, you need to identify the issue, state why it's a problem or unreasonable, and request the solution you're looking for.

Today is the rest day