Google backflips on Blogger sexual content ban

Days after announcing a ban on sexually explicit content or "graphic nudity" on its Blogger platform, Google has reversed course.

Google said Friday that after a barrage of public comments, it decided not to implement the ban, but instead would step up efforts to enforce its policy barring "commercial porn."

"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," product manager Jessica Pelegio said in a post to the Google product forum.

"So rather than implement this change, we've decided to step up enforcement around our existing policy prohibiting commercial porn."

She added that operators should continue to mark any blogs containing sexually explicit content as "adult" to get an adult content warning.

"Bloggers whose content is consistent with this and other policies do not need to make any changes to their blogs," she said.

Google's new policy elicited complaints earlier this week over Twitter, with some calling it censorship.

Violet Blue, who pens the human sexuality blog tinynibbles.com, tweeted, "Censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression."

© 2015 AFP