November 21, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The smartphone application for the blogging platform Tumblr has been indefinitely removed from Apple’s App Store, following a discovery that it failed to identify and remove depictions of child sexual abuse.

Tumblr first announced on November 16 that their iOS app was being removed “to resolve an issue,” then revealed the details on November 19.

“Every image uploaded to Tumblr is scanned against an industry database of known child sexual abuse material, and images that are detected never reach the platform,” the company’s statement read. “A routine audit discovered content on our platform that had not yet been included in the industry database. We immediately removed this content.”

The statement insisted Tumblr has a “have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to media featuring child sexual exploitation and abuse,” “work[s] collaboratively with our industry peers and partners like [the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children] to actively monitor content uploaded to the platform,” and is “continuously assessing further steps we can take.”

However, MacRumors reports that Tumblr didn’t admit the “issue” involved child porn until Donwload.com pressed the company with its findings about the source of the problem. While quickly removing the app protected Apple device users, it did not warn those accessing Tumblr through other means (as of press time the app remains on Google Play).

Download.com notes that in March the government of Indonesia temporarily blocked Tumblr for failing to remove pornographic content, and the year before Tumblr butted heads with the South Korean government over its request to delete porn and prostitution-related posts.

In 2013, in the wake of acquiring Tumblr, internet giant Yahoo declared it would “let Tumblr be Tumblr” and allow porn to stay on the platform.

“Tumblr has a reputation as a platform with a permissive attitude towards adult content,” USA Today notes.