Vicious message on Tumblr

Question

My 13 year old granddaughter received a extremely serious vicious message via Tumblr. I am absolutely horrid she could get a anonymous message telling her she should end her life as there is nothing for her to live for. There was more. Can you do anything to track a message?

My granddaughter is so distraught someone would even send such a thing.

Answer 1

Contacting Tumblr is your best bet for tracking someone down.

That being said, it seems that the general consensus from sources on children's internet safety is that Tumblr is not for children and that there is little that can be done to make it more kid-friendly (it's not as easy to restrict access as, say, Instagram). The ability to message a user anonymously (as sounds like was done in this case) is definitely one of the reasons why. One good source for application-specific guides for parents is yoursphere (I'm not affiliated with it at all).

This article, Tumblr - Why Kids Love It and What Parents Need To Know, is particularly enlightening- summing things up by saying:

The fact of the matter is, Tumblr, like many websites, blog platforms and social networks, does not have the content filters or oversight in place to ensure a healthy experience for your child.