Google-owned Blogger bans sexually explicit content

Google-owned blogging platform Blogger will no longer allow its
users to post sexually explicit content, the company confirmed today.
In a statement sent via email to selected Blogger users, Google said it
would no longer allow blogs to feature "graphic nude images or
video" from March 23rd. Any blogs that continued to show explicit
images would be made private after that date — while graphic images
and videos would remain, Google says they would only be visible to
the blog owner, admins, and other people who the owner shared it
with.

GOOGLE WILL STILL ALLOW "ARTISTIC, EDUCATIONAL,
DOCUMENTARY, AND SCIENTIFIC" NUDITY

In an updated entry in its support database, Google says it will still
allow nudity on Blogger blogs if the images or video offer "substantial
public benefit," for example in "artistic, educational, documentary, or
scientific contexts." If explicit content doesn't conform to that
definition, then the company suggests that users remove the
offending media entirely, or mark it as private. Blogger's previous
policy allowed explicit images and videos if the blog was marked as
"adult," stating that "censoring this content is contrary to a service
that bases itself on freedom of expression."

Blogger follows the example of social network Vine, which last
March prohibited the sharing of pornographic clips, but the move
could cause Google's platform to lose users to its major rivals.

Tumblr, in particular, has kept studiously quiet about sexually explicit
content. The popular blogging platform, bought by Yahoo for $1.1
billion in 2013, has become something of a haven for the sharing of
pornographic clips and video, but its new owners have yet to make
pronouncements on the subject after Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer
promised "not to screw up" the service at the time of purchase.