Tumblr takes legal action against Irish media regulator

Microblogging and social network site Tumblr has commenced a High Court action against the Irish media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, over its designation as a “video-sharing platform”.

It follows a similar legal action taken last week by Reddit.

Earlier this month, Coimisiún na Meán named the ten video-sharing platforms that will be covered by its new Online Safety Code.

They are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Udemy, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest, Tumblr and Reddit.

Once the new rules are established, they will be legally binding and platforms will face fines of up to €20 million for breaches of the code.

Social media firms will have to protect children from specific types of harmful online material including cyberbullying, content that promotes eating disorders and content that promotes self-harm or suicide.

A spokesperson for Tumblr said it is taking the legal action as it does not consider itself to be a video-sharing platform.

“We respect the important work of the Commission and its role in online safety, but respectfully disagree that Tumblr is a video platform,” the spokesperson said.

“Users come to us for lots of great content (memes! fandom!), but video is a very small part of Tumblr.”

“We do not believe that we belong in the same category as video platforms like YouTube or TikTok. Our size, content, and the types of risks we guard against on our platforms are very different,” Tumblr said.

Asked for its response, Coimisiún na Meán said it did not want to comment on matters that are currently before the courts.