Blogger Backpedals on its Porn Policy

Just days after announcing it would look to ban adult content Blogger has gone back on its word and will be allowing users to post porn.

Blogger gave an update on the potential change to its porn policy saying that a “ton of feedback” has persuaded them not to move forward with the plan to prevent smutty content from being shared and accessed and says that many blog-owners, a lot of whom have been active on the site for over ten years, use sexually explicit content to express their identities.

Those who wish to include adult content or porn in their blogs will now need to mark their posts as “Adult” before publishing. This places the blog behind an Adult Warning page which advises the nature of the content before it can be accessed by readers and viewed at their own discretion.

If a blog-owner doesn’t adhere to these rules then Blogger will change the setting without the owner’s consent and slapped wrists may follow. The use of porn for commercial purposes is also now forbidden and the rule on child abuse images and paedophilia is pretty much a given – No. It’s just unacceptable and accounts will be terminated if found to be sharing it.

It’s not for everybody to understand why so many would wish to use Blogger as a platform to get their bits out but at least they have now acknowledged their user’s right to freedom of expression while still showing some control and cautioning over the content. And it also stops users jumping over to Tumblr which is notoriously more lenient on its porn policies.

Blogger has a page dedicated to its Content Policy which is worth a read if you’re a blog-owner and your published works fall under the adult category.