Google bans "graphic nudity" from hosted blogs, will decide if your art is porn (UPDATE: decision reversed)

Rob Beschizza 6:48 am Tue Feb 24, 2015

Google is to ban pornography and "graphic nudity" at Blogger, the publishing platform that used to host Boing Boing before we got our own servers.

Google said those Blogger sites that continue to host pornography after March 23 will be made "private." That means the content will be allowed to remain up, but it will only be accessible to the site's owner and the people who the user directly shared the blog with.

Google noted that it isn't completely banning nudity from being shown publicly on Blogger. The site will allow nudity "if the content offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts." But it also puts Google in the position of deciding what is art and what is pornography — a decision that Instagram and other sites have struggled with.

It's not news to say that the internet has mostly disappeared into serious culture's well-stretched arsehole, but it's always useful to remember that the googly eye now peering out from it is Eric Schmidt's.

Adult content policy on Blogger

[Blogger]

UPDATE, FEB. 27: "The Web giant on Friday announced that it has changed its mind and will not crack down on adult content on its blogging platform, after all," reports PC Mag.

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