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Sex Workers Say Porn on Google Drive Is Suddenly Disappearing
[...] Six porn performers I talked to and more on social media said that they suddenly can't download adult content they keep on Google Drive. They also said they can't a[sic] share that content with other accounts or send to clients. In some cases, the adult content is disappearing from Drive without warning or explanation. The porn performers I talked to started sounding the alarm on Twitter last week. They said that Google Drive no longer seemed sex-trade friendly, detailing error messages and sharing cloud storage alternatives with each other.
When I asked about sexual content being blocked on Drive, a spokesperson for Google directed me to the Drive policy page—specifically the section on sexually explicit material, which says, "Do not publish sexually explicit or pornographic images or videos.... Additionally, we do not allow content that drives traffic to commercial pornography." Writing about porn and sex is permitted, the policy states, as long as it's not accompanied by sexually explicit images or videos. According to Google, Drive uses a combination of automated systems and manual review to decide what's in violation.
[...] "It seems like all of our videos in Google Drive are getting flagged by some sort of automated system," Stone said. "We're not even really getting notified of it, the only way we really found out was one of our customers told us he couldn't view or download the video we sent him."
Stone's files aren't removed from Drive, but when she tries to play the video or download it, she said Google gives her an error message: "Whoops! There was a problem playing this video" with an option to download the item, but the download link doesn't work.
Some sex workers are wondering if this has something to do with the impending vote on the SESTA-FOSTA bill, which is on the Senate floor for debate this week. [ed. note: it was passed]
It could also be that Google is suddenly enforcing its Terms of Service without warning.
[...] "I don't believe that Google should be allowed to dictate what you and another consenting adult send to each other through email."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Bot on Sunday March 25 2018, @04:15PM (4 children)
Whether me, you, google or the US thinks about porn is irrelevant.
Whatever is written in the TOS nobody reads is legally important but in this case irrelevant.
The relevant thing, if the story is indeed true, is the sh!t level of communication from google to its clients, I mean its products, us.
"Dear client
I am afraid your content (link list below) violates our guidelines as clearly explained in the TOS (JK, we don't completely understand what's in the TOS either).
You have 30 days to download your files to a safe location, after that it will be deleted. Sharing of the content will be stopped in a week.
Sorry for the inconvenience,
yours
The not yet evil Google"
Today is porn, tomorrow is whatever the psychopaths at the wheel decide.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @04:31PM (2 children)
The size really is not the issue here. Such a stupid and puerile rule only exists to please some weird prudes somewhere, that's why it's important to treat the violators like the garbage they obviously are and smite them. Google is acting god's sword, not as hosting service. Sharia USA.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @05:16PM (1 child)
Ah, um, we're talking about p0rn, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @09:19AM
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Monday March 26 2018, @05:40PM
You mean the gun videos on youtube? The people at the wheel already decided on that.
Google is bending to the will of those that PAY them. The product line (the people) may be made smaller in the culling, but the culling is required to keep the advertising funding coming in.
I expect there will be more enforcements.
They have no morality here; it's not about guns and porn and being leaning this way or that way. It's easy to blame that, but this isn't even evil. This is just business. They are trying to do damage control to prevent a further hit to their bottom line.
The only way they will restore what they have taken away is by popular demand of the people that view the ads that make Google so much money. Stop viewing ads, and they'll display whatever content they have to in order for the ad coinage/spice to flow.
We can guess what is next, but whatever it is will probably be at the fringes of acceptable cultural behaviors; nothing mainstream will get censured. That'd upset too many people.