Google Changes Mind About Banning Adult Content On Blogger

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Google backtracks on Blogger adult image ban after fierce public outcry

Facing a firestorm of complaints from the public, tech giant Google announced on Friday that it has reversed its decision to ban adult image with sexual content on its Blogger platform. Google says it will instead “step up enforcement” around an existing policy that prohibits commercial pornography.

As reported by ValueWalk, the search giant had announced the ban on sexually-explicit images on Blogger just a couple of days ago.

Statement from Google

In an update on Friday morning by Social Product Support Manager Jessica Pelegio on Google’s Product Forums, the firm announced that given feedback and worries about the “retroactive enforcement of the new policy,” which would hit some bloggers who have had accounts for more than a decade, Google has cancelled its decision to completely ban sexually-explicit content from the network.

Pelegio said the firm’s change of  heart was also related to the potential “negative impact on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities.”

More on Google’s decision to reverse Blogger ban

In its statement regarding the ban earlier this week, the firm told users to delete “sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video” to avoid their blogs from being removed from public view. ZDNet’s Violet Blue points out that blogs under the “adult” label are wide-ranging, and include LGBT diaries, transgender activists, romance book writers, sex toy reviewers, art nude photographers and sex news blogs, among others.

That means that if Google had gone ahead with the ban, a wide variety of community members and functions as well as “standard adult blogs”.would have been blocked from public view.

Google emphasized that blog owners should continue to mark blogs which contain any explicit content as “adult” so they can be placed behind a suitable “adult content” warning that pops up before viewers can actually see the blog. You must click “yes” to acknowledge that you are viewing adult content before you can see the blog.

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