NSFW: Google Cancels Ban On Blogger Porn After Receiving 'A Ton' Of Angry Feedback

Google’s ban on porn lasted less than three days. After announcing that sexually explicit material would be banned completely from the company’s Blogger sites, Google retreated.

“We’ve had a ton of feedback, in particular about the introduction of a retroactive change (some people have had accounts for 10+ years),” Google spokeswoman Jessica Pelegio wrote, “but also about the negative impact on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities.”

The search giant said that it will instead “step up” its enforcement of an existing policy that prohibits commercial pornography. Users of the service need to mark any blog containing NSFW material as “adult,” which hides the content behind a warning page.

Google also prohibits users from posting nude or explicit images of someone else without that person's consent. Google’s announcement came the same day that post-sharing network Reddit announced a ban on videos, images and links to nude or sexual material that the subject had not consented to post.

The policy of removing images that are shared without consent relies on users reporting such content. Google had originally announced that it would make Blogger sites containing nudity “private,” which would make it hidden to all but the blog’s authors and users invited to view the page.