It sounds like ChatGPT and Midjourney already scraped tumblr for data, and now that Fartomatt knows about it he wants to put it behind a paywall.

Tumblr simulator:

"everyone better watch this".
[Bad crop of Tiktok with no subtitles.]
(9 jpg screengrabs of replies arranged in a 3x3 grid, clicking on them to expand them takes you to a website for some reason.)
123,456 likes, 12 reblogs.

I think the fact that Nazis stopped being seen as universally bad people in 2016 is pretty telling. Now, we have little mini-Hitlers all over the place. On the internet, on boards of directors, in public office, writing for large newspapers. I just don't see how we can ever get rid of it all.

You know, before October 2023, I never interacted with my representatives very much. But now, it's clear to me that these people shouldn't be trusted with so much as a paper route, let alone making laws. They signed their brains away for a prayer and a bottle of soda pop long ago.

Matt Mullenweg chasing Rita Madhopz around the internet, nuking random people who made fun of him, and dumping Tumblr's userdata into Midjourney weren't on the 2024 agenda. But, here we are.