Google sent an email to Blogger users today warning them that their site will be removed at the end of the month if they do not remove all adverts and links to external sites hosting adult content.
Blogger’s current Content Policy allows users to publish adult images and videos that contain nudity and sexual activity, provided they categorize their blog appropriately in the settings panel. Google doesn’t allow users to make money from adult content, however, with adverts or links pointing to commercial porn sites.
The email sent to Blogger admins today states that the company’s Content Policy will be updated on June 30 to “strictly prohibit” the monetization of all adult content. “After June 30th 2013, we will be enforcing this policy and will remove blogs which are adult in nature and are displaying advertisements to adult websites,” the email reads.
The wording doesn’t appear to differ from Blogger’s current Content Policy, but shows that Google is now prepared to take down any and all blogs which are “adult in nature” and displaying adverts or links for adult sites. These two factors could also be independent of one another: a blog which contains infringing adverts will certainly be taken down, but it’s not clear whether a blog that simply features adult content will share the same fate.
The current Content Policy also fails to define what constitutes ‘adult’ content. Images that contain nudity or sexual activity are listed as just one example, placing some ambiguity over exactly which blogs are under threat.
We have reached out to Google to confirm what this notice means and whether the removal will be for all blogs containing adult content, or just those featuring adverts for adult sites We will update this post if and when we hear back.
Image Credit: LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images
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