General

Synopsis:

Tumblr is currently owned by Automattic Inc., the same company behind WordPress.com. They bought Tumblr from Verizon in 2019 for less than $3 million — which is wild considering Yahoo originally bought it for $1.1 billion in 2013. (Talk about a glow-down.)

But who owns Automattic?

It was founded by Matt Mullenweg, a tech bro who claims to be pro-free speech, open internet, and user empowerment. But here’s the thing:
• Automattic takes in hundreds of millions in VC funding from groups like Tiger Global, Insight Partners, and Salesforce Ventures.
• These firms have strong links to big finance, Wall Street, and — yes — the elite class of tech overlords who shape what the internet gets to be.

So while Matt might still technically be CEO and founder, he’s playing nice with capital sharks who expect ROI — and that always means advertiser-friendly content. No controversy. No “weird kinks.” No freedom unless it sells clean.

Tumblr really ought to be considered an adult site. Most social media sites should be considered adult only. Perhaps child friendly sites should carry an age rating tag then parents can restrict the children's Internet to those if they wish.

That way we don't have to make the whole Internet the Fisher Price toy version of what we want.

We recognise that the streets are not safe for un-supervised toddlers so we should recognise the Internet is the adult world too.

Just go back to deviant art lol.

Seriously though, this sucks.