TUMBLR’s ban on adult content  has cost the sharing platform  over one-fifth of its users in its first month of being instituted.

Visits to the Tumblr website fell from 521 million in December to 437 million in January, according to data from various web analytics traffic sites.

The ban, which came into effect on December 17th, provoked a backlash from users who claimed it would penalize sex-positive, LGBT and NSFW art communities.

Tumblr’s decision to update its content policy on all adult contact after the discovery of  child sexual abuse imagery on a few of it’s accounts after it was reported.

The decision proved controversial among many users and prompted a movement known as the “log off” protest to encourage people to leave the site

In defending the ban Tumblr said it still wanted to still be a platform for LGBT conversations.

“Tumblr will always be a place to explore your identity,” it wrote. “Tumblr has always been home to marginalized communities and always will be,” Tumblr wrote.

“We fully recognize Tumblr’s special obligation to these communities and are committed to ensuring that our new policy on adult content does not silence the vital conversations that take place here every day.”

One online petition calling for the policy to be reversedreceiving more than 600,000 signatures.

“Let people post porn, it’s 90 per cent of the reason anybody is on the site in the first place,” the petition states.

Ain’t it the truth.