Google backpedals on its Blogger porn ban just 3 days later

Days after announcing that it would begin cracking down on sexually explicit content on its Blogger platform, Google has reversed its decision

The changes, which would have forbid public access to sexually explicit blogs, were slated to go into effect next month. But the policy change generated substantial backlash. Major criticisms pointed out that some users had been posting non-commercial pornographic content for years; to many, the move seemed too sweeping and random

See also: One woman is trying to pressure Google to bury revenge porn

Google posted on its product forum on Friday:

Hello everyone,

This week, we announced a change to Blogger’s porn policy. 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. Read more...

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