As noted in a prior post, Google - which owns the Blogger platform used by this blog and countless others - had announced that come late March, all porn would be banned from blogs using Blogger. Blogs not following the ban would be forced to private, by invitation only blogs. Now, Google is rapidly backtracking after receiving "a ton of feedback" raising hell over the decision (I can't help but wonder what percentage of the complaints came from the Bible Belt which leads the country in online porn usage). The Guardian looks at Google's change of heart. Here are highlights:
Google has backtracked on plans to ban sexually explicit images from its blogging platform Blogger, in the face of widespread opposition from users.
The company had initially announced a ban on “sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video”, with just a few exceptions for content which offered “a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts”.
It planned to enforce the ban from 23 March, when any user with offending material still on their blog would be forced to turn it into a private site.
Now, the company has backed down. Jessica Pelegio, a social product support manager at Google, wrote: “We’ve had a ton of feedback, in particular about the introduction of a retroactive change (some people have had accounts for 10+ years), but also about the negative impact on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities.
“So rather than implement this change, we’ve decided to step up enforcement around our existing policy prohibiting commercial porn.”
“Blog owners should continue to mark any blogs containing sexually explicit content as ‘adult’ so that they can be placed behind an ‘adult content’ warning page,” she added. Bloggers existing policy is much looser when it comes to adult content than many other providers.
Since at least 2012 the company has warned users to “not use Blogger as a way to make money on adult content” . . . . Users are also not allowed to “post or distribute private nude or sexually explicit images or videos without the subject’s consent.”
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