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This mess shows off a combination of the pitfalls of our current duopoly in mobile platforms and centralization.

For those not in the loop, this afternoon Tumblr began a purge of NSFW accounts, including artists and sex workers. A considerable chunk of Tumblr is comprised of these users or people who follow these users, and use Tumblr as a primary revenue source.

The reason people are speculating in the moment has everything to do with Apple. The theory goes that Apple has removed from the app store Tumblr for allowing users to access NSFW content. In a twist, Tumblr hides NSFW content via "Safe Mode" by default already, but that might not be enough for Apple.

So, one of the two major vendors of their application shuts them off, and Tumblr understandably starts flailing. Multiple NSFW accounts were shut down (not just the blogs, but the attached accounts terminated too), and people take notice.

If the mobile ecosystem were healthier, maybe this wouldn't have happened - if there was more competition, Apple wouldn't have the power to destroy another platform's users in a snap.

Rumor has it emailing support could get you your account back if you were swept up in the purge, but after a burn like this I wouldn't trust my livelihood to Tumblr again.

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