• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 7, 2020

After years of failing to fend off unwanted content, Tumblr is enlisting users to help police its platform. To do so, the social network has tapped Ditch the Label -- a UK-based nonprofit that specializes in digital literacy campaigns.

Dubbed “World Wide What,” the year-long partnership will seek to spread safety awareness -- and facilitate related conversations -- among users.

Based on these discussions, Tumblr has committed to rolling out a number of platform improvements and updates over the next 12 months.

Among other issues, the network is hoping to address the spread of fake news, misinformation, cyberbullying, and inauthentic social media personalities.

At launch, the effort includes six videos -- with names like “Fake News, Skewed Views” and “Authenticity Online” -- which can be viewed on Tumblr.  

Plus, experts in areas from misinformation to cyberbullying are expected to host question-and-answer sessions throughout the year.

These issues have cost Tumblr a fortune, judging by its declining value since being acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion, in 2013.

Last year, Yahoo parent Verizon reportedly sold Tumblr to WordPress parent Automattic for a measly $3 million.

Before the acquisition, Tumblr had become so synonymous with pornographic content that Pornhub expressed interest in buying the platform. Tumblr officially banned pornographic content in 2018.

In 2018, Tumblr also admitted that Russian trolls had exploited its platform to spread politically charged misinformation in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in 2016.

Despite these ongoing challenges, Tumblr still boasted approximately 450 million blogs as of 2019.