MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Under a content policy change announced Monday evening, Google’s Blogger platform no longer will allow users to maintain publicly accessible blogs offering sexually explicit pictures or videos.
The content policy change was announced via email to Blogger users who already had tagged their blogs as “adult.” The category includes many bloggers whose sites and content likely will be largely unaffected by the policy change, as the tag applies to many blogs that don’t publish sexually explicit images but are devoted to sex-related topics.
“We’re writing to tell you about an upcoming change to the Blogger Content Policy that may affect your account,” the email begins. “In the coming weeks, we’ll no longer allow blogs that contain sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video.”
The email notes Blogger will not shut down all “adult” blogs, or even all blogs that display nudity.
“We’ll still allow nudity presented in artistic, educational, documentary or scientific contexts, or where there are other substantial benefits to the public from not taking action on the content.” the email stated.
The policy change will take effect March 23, after which blogs featuring content that violates the new rules will be made private, meaning the content will be viewable only “by the owner or admins of the blog and the people who the owner has shared the blog with.”
Users with existing blogs offering content not in line with the new policy have three options: remove the offending content, proactively mark their blog(s) as private or take down their blogs altogether. For any new blogs created after the deadline, the Blogger staff “may remove the blog or take other action if [the blog] includes content that is sexually explicit or shows graphic nudity.”
Blogger’s content policy previously stated, “It is our belief that censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression.” The about-face has some Blogger users scratching their heads. The immediate result may be an exodus of sexually explicit blogs to Tumblr and/or WordPress.
The move is the latest in a series of policy changes on Google’s part restricting use of the company’s various platforms and technologies with respect to the distribution and promotion of pornography. Changes to AdWords policies announced in March 2014, and the company started to enforce them last summer.
