Pornhub teases Tumblr takeover to restore former adult content ‘glory’

Pornhub wants to buy Tumblr and reverse the microblogging site’s recent controversial decision to purge adult content from its pages. The website has seen a flop in traffic since removing porn posted by its users.

Verizon is reportedly preparing to sell Tumblr, and Pornhub VP Corey Price told BuzzFeed that his company is “extremely interested” in acquiring Tumblr and is “very much looking forward to one day restoring it to its former glory with NSFW content.”

Though Tumblr was not designed to be an adult content site, it evolved into an online space where erotic content and a range of sex positive communities thrived. However, this openness backfired after child pornography was found to have slipped through Tumblr’s filters and was posted on the site, prompting the company to pull their app for a month in November while it dealt with the problem.

Tumblr then saw a massive drop in traffic after it announced it was banning all adult content in December.

Pornhub responded to the ban at the time, tweeting, “Pornhub welcomes you with open arms,” and encouraging creators to upload their content and earn revenue on it.

“Tumblr was a safe haven for those who wanted to explore and express their sexuality, adult entertainment aficionados included,” Price said. “We’ve long been dismayed that such measures were taken to eradicate erotic communities on the platform, leaving many individuals without an asylum through which they could comfortably peruse adult content.”

A Techcrunch report claimed such a move would be a bad idea, though, because of accusations that Pornhub’s parent company Mindgeek exploits its adult performers by allowing pirated content to be reuploaded to its porn sites. Techcrunch is owned by Verizon.

Yahoo, which is now part of Verizon Media Group, bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion in 2013, but within three years, had written down its value as $230 million. Verizon has been unable to make enough revenue from the site, which has sponsored posts and apps, sells themes and licenses news feeds.

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