Tumblr vs Bluesky

Most sharing is public unless you take extra steps, and likes, reblogs, and replies can be visible too. This means casual activity can become broadly accessible and searchable.

For content you provide, Tumblr gets a worldwide, transferable, sublicensable license to host, modify, distribute, and analyze it. Public posts may also be made available to selected third parties for distribution or analysis.

Tumblr uses cookies, pixels, analytics, and inferred interests for targeted advertising, and may share certain data with advertising partners. In some U.S. states, that sharing can count as a sale/share you can opt out of.

Subscriptions renew automatically and charge your saved payment method until you cancel. Tumblr says you must cancel at least 14 days before the end of the current period to avoid the next charge.

Tumblr disclaims most warranties, excludes many categories of damages, and caps total liability at $100 or the amount paid. If something goes wrong, recovery against Tumblr is heavily constrained.

Disputes are governed by New York law and generally must be brought in state or federal court in New York County. That can make it harder and more expensive for users elsewhere to pursue claims.

Users can download a personal data report and export a copy of the content they post. That gives you at least some portability and visibility into what Tumblr has stored.

You can delete your account from settings, and Tumblr says it will delete the information it holds about you after 30 days unless it must keep it for legal reasons. This is a meaningful off-ramp, though not a perfect erasure promise.

Tumblr says it retains information only as long as needed for service, active accounts, and legal or dispute purposes. That is a reasonable retention statement, though backups and public reblogs can remain after deletion.

Tumblr says you keep ownership of the intellectual property rights in what you post. That is better than services that claim ownership of user uploads outright.

Direct messages are not end-to-end encrypted and may be accessed for trust and safety purposes. Users should not treat Bluesky DMs as highly confidential communications.

Posts, profile, likes, follows, and blocks are public by design. This makes social graph and activity data broadly visible rather than private by default.

Even if you delete your account, copies of your content may remain on other services using the AT Protocol. In practice, deletion across the decentralized network may not be fully enforceable.

Most disputes must go through a 60-day informal process and then binding individual arbitration instead of court. This usually makes it harder to bring claims publicly or use normal court procedures.

Users generally cannot participate in class or representative actions against Bluesky. That reduces leverage for small-value claims that are impractical to pursue individually.

Bluesky says it does not sell or share personal data for targeted advertising. That's a meaningful privacy-positive commitment compared with many social platforms.

Depending on location, users can request access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, objection, and review of automated decisions. These are substantial privacy rights, especially for users in stronger-regulation jurisdictions.

You keep ownership of what you post, but grant Bluesky a worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute, display, moderate, and promote that content. This is broad enough to cover product use and marketing uses.

Bluesky keeps data while your account is active and may retain it longer for trust and safety, disputes, audits, legal compliance, and claims. The policy does not give firm deletion deadlines for many categories.

If something goes wrong, Bluesky's financial liability is generally limited to US$100, except in narrow cases like fraud, gross negligence causing death or personal injury, or non-waivable statutory rights.

The terms explicitly say you can delete your account at any time in settings. A built-in deletion flow is more user-friendly than requiring manual support requests.

If your account is suspended or restricted, you can appeal using an in-app tool or email within two weeks. EU/EEA users also retain access to out-of-court review and local courts.