Tumblr provides useful transparency and some user rights, but the combination of public-by-default sharing, broad licensing, ad-tech data sharing, auto-renewal, and strong legal waivers makes the overall posture more protective of the company than the user.
Tumblr’s legal terms are mixed: users keep ownership of what they post, and the platform offers deletion, export, and some privacy controls. But Tumblr also relies heavily on public-by-default sharing, broad content licensing for public posts, targeted advertising, automatic renewal for subscriptions, strong liability limits, and court-only dispute rules in New York. The privacy policy includes some user rights and a stated retention period, but also permits ad-related data sharing that can qualify as a sale in some U.S. states.
Points of interest
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.
"“By default, all sharing through the Services is public…”"
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.
"“un droit et une licence… à titre gracieux, pouvant faire l'objet d'une sous-licence et transférable”"
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.
"“we may share some of your information with advertising partners… In some U.S. States, this data sharing may be considered a ‘sale.’”"
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.
"“Vous devez résilier la Souscription au moins 14 jours avant la fin…”"
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.
"“la responsabilité totale… ne dépassera pas la somme de cent dollars (100,00 USD)”"
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.
"“résolue exclusivement par une juridiction… située dans le comté de New York”"
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 download a personal data report… You can also download/export a copy of the content you post to Tumblr.”"
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.
"“If you want to delete your Account, you can do so from your Account Settings.”"
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 will retain your information only for as long as is necessary…”"
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.
"“Vous conservez la propriété de tous droits de propriété intellectuelle sur ce que vous publiez sur Tumblr.”"
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Documents
Terms of Service
source ↗- •You must meet Tumblr’s minimum age requirements, provide accurate account information, keep your password secure, and stop using the service if you reject updated terms.
- •Tumblr can change features, set usage limits, suspend content or accounts, or end services at any time, sometimes without notice.
- •You keep ownership of content you post, but grant Tumblr a worldwide, transferable license to host, display, distribute, adapt, analyze, and share public content.
- •You must follow the Community Guidelines, respect others’ intellectual property, and avoid scraping, unauthorized automated access, security testing, spam, or service interference.
- •Tumblr collects, uses, shares, and may transfer your information to the United States and other countries as described in its Privacy Policy.
- •Paid services are limited, revocable licenses; prices may change, purchases are generally final and nonrefundable, and losing your account can end access to them.
- •Subscriptions renew automatically and charge your saved payment method until canceled, and you must cancel at least 14 days before renewal to avoid the next charge.
- •Tumblr provides the service and content “as is,” disclaims most warranties, limits liability, caps many claims at $100 or amounts paid, and requires claims within one year.
- •Disputes are governed by New York law and usually must be brought in state or federal court in New York County, unless otherwise agreed.
- •Tumblr has a DMCA copyright process for takedown notices and counter-notices, and may terminate accounts for repeated copyright infringement.
Privacy Policy
source ↗- •Tumblr collects account, device, usage, browser, cookie, location, contact, and payment-related information to run and improve the Services.
- •Public sharing is the default: posts and many actions (likes, reblogs, replies, asks, fan mail) are visible and can be indexed or copied publicly.
- •If you link accounts to third-party services, Tumblr may receive an access token to share content but does not receive or store third-party passwords.
- •Tumblr uses cookies, pixel tags, and may use third-party analytics/advertising tags, and users in some regions can change cookie and ad personalization settings.
- •Tumblr selectively serves ads and may make educated guesses about interests from activity and native actions for targeted advertising and personalization.
- •Tumblr may share information with Automattic and related companies, vendors/agents, and third parties via public content, business transfers, and legal requests.
- •Tumblr says it cannot guarantee security, and retains information only as long as needed for service, active accounts, and legal or dispute purposes.
- •Account deletion may not fully remove content because of backups, caching, and the public nature of reblogs; account data may be kept up to 30 days after deletion.
- •Users may access, correct, delete, and opt out of certain ad personalization and data uses, with extra rights depending on location (e.g., Canada/Quebec).
