tumblr did not get pulled from the app store for porn, it was because they had a child porn problem. apple is not responsible for the porn ban. it's tumblr.

they just used it as an excuse to ban porn and take like none of the blame because they could make it seem like evil old apple was forcing them to. they did it because running a site where adult content isn't allowed is significantly easier, esp. when dealing with payment processors and the like.

they could easily bring it back, and if they wanna be extremely safe they could just do what reddit and discord already do and lock it behind a toggle on the website so no poor unsuspecting minors could be exposed to nsfw content without actively seeking it out.

they could even lock that behind an age gate, what a concept.

Tumblr (Verizon) made the nuclear decision, and Tumblr (Automattic) can rightly say “we (Automattic) didn’t ban porn”, but also exist in a position where the platform’s new starting point is “no porn”.

Automattic can then make policy changes to allow certain subsets of NSFW content, and still enjoy the benefits of being a platform where most people are hesitant to post NSFW content.

Automattic’s CEO has made arguments about payment processors and advertisers being the ultimate aggressors against NSFW content on platforms (not Apple or Google), but Automattic Tumblr has definitely been a beneficiary of past Tumblr regime’s decisions.