Tumblr wants you to express yourself (but not hurt yourself).

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 stages noteworthy rules for the online service providers who share content online and thus draws a line in the sand between those who publish content and those who are the portal for the publishing. 230(c)(1) states that you are not liable for the content of others as an online service provider while 230(c)(2) states that you may self-police if you wish and you are free to take down the content of those you host based upon your own standards and judgment calls. The only exception to these rules has to do with content which violates federal law such as child pornography. However, content such as a blog posting full of slanderous lies about a corporate entity, while certainly fodder for getting its creator in hot water, is not subject matter that an online service provider would be obligated to pull from one of its forums. Such questionable content may be left online without the hosting party being in a position of liability. A publisher may face criminal charges for revenge porn in California, but not the intermediary providing the hosting. I saw a Jeff Hermes and an Eric Goldman speak on this subject at SXSW and they were joined by a third lawyer named Ari Shandadi (middle of the photo) who was the de facto star of the show and had the most interesting things to contribute. He is the general console for Tumblr and he spoke to how Tumblr operates under the protection of Section 230. He suggested that Secret would have needed a lawyer as early as its third employee in the absence of Section 230, but that fortunately this was not the case. He was very much a proponent of Section 230 and while acknowledging the problems that come with charming websites such as those that publish mugshot photos from arrests online while trying to bait their victims into paying them to remove the images, he also did not flinch from suggesting that our society just has to take the good with the bad and that the overall effect of Section 230 is inducive to free speech. He was loathe to see exception cases written into law tampering with it. A lot of goofy things come out of state legislatures, and it is probably best that only federal law may introduce loopholes to Section 230. Ari drew a comparison between Facebook and Tumblr and noted that while Facebook heavily polices and censors what its users may broadcast, that Tumblr tries to go in the other direction offering as much freedom to publishers as possible. He did call out a couple of exceptions. Tumblr will take down photos of people hurting themselves. They self-censor self-mutilation voluntarily while they are not explicitly obligated to. They have also made an architecture decision not to allow comments on posts as this may open the door to cyberbullying or other complexities Tumblr would rather not deal with. When individuals send Tumblr correspondence requesting that the posts of others which upset them be taken down, Tumblr does not oblige the requests.