Tumblr to ban all pornographic content from 17 December Published duration 3 December 2018

image copyright Getty Images image caption The move comes days after Tumblr said it found child sexual abuse images during a routine audit

Social networking site Tumblr has announced plans to ban all pornographic content, effective from 17 December.

The new policy comes weeks after the site was pulled from Apple's App Store after child abuse images made it past Tumblr's filters.

"Our actions are out of love and hope for our community," he wrote.

New community guidelines state users cannot upload "real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples" - including anything "so photorealistic" it could be thought to be genuine.

However, the site said posts featuring nudity that are "artistic, educational, newsworthy, or political" are acceptable and will not necessarily be removed.

Users who have adult content posts will receive notices which will tell them how to appeal against a ban, or how to "preserve their content outside the community".

image copyright Getty Images image caption Tumblr has in the past had a reputation for allowing sexually themed material on its site

"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," it read.

"A routine audit discovered content on our platform that had not yet been included in the industry database."

Tumblr has had a reputation for allowing sexually themed material to be shared on its service.