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29th November 2018
09:34pm GMT
In response, porn site YouPorn has blocked Starbucks back.
All products from the chain are now banned from their offices.
“Following the news that Starbucks has blocked its customers from searching and viewing adult content within their establishments, YouPorn has updated their company policy banning all Starbucks products from its offices,” the site said in a statement to Eater.
Eater also published an internal memo from the porn site’s Vice Chairman, confirming that the ban will come into affect on January 1st, 2019.
The memo ends: "See your direct manager for any questions."
The coffee chain had been under pressure to take such a step for some time now, with the anti-porn move first mooted back in the summer of 2016.
At that time, Starbucks appeared to commit to blocking explicit content via their WiFi service, but failed to put the barriers in place.
The practice of doing so is officially banned as per management rules, but access is still nonetheless available.
Business Insider reports that the global brand has finally developed a tool designed to prevent customers from viewing pornography and other content deemed to be explicit.
"To ensure the Third Place remains safe and welcoming to all, we have identified a solution to prevent this content from being viewed within our stores and we will begin introducing it to our US locations in 2019," said a Starbucks representative in their official statement.
Starbucks has yet to reveal the mechanics behind its porn blocker, but confirmed that the process has been rigorous in order to avoid blocking out sites that don't feature offensive content. The proposed change comes off the back of a petition by campaigners from the group Enough Is Enough, who argued that Starbucks' lack of action is extremely harmful. "By breaking its commitment, Starbucks is keeping the doors wide open for convicted sex offenders and others to fly under the radar from law enforcement and use free, public Wi-Fi services to access illegal child porn and hardcore pornography," said CEO Donna Rice Hughes. "People sit there for hours using the internet," she added. "They're known for this. Let's make it safe and secure."Explore more on these topics:
