Starbucks will block access on all store Wi-Fi hot spots to pornographic websites starting in 2019, according to a report published Thursday.
“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,” a Starbucks representative told Business Insider in an email on Wednesday.
The global coffee chain said that despite it being against store policy for customers to view porn on free store Wi-Fi, people have done so anyway and have viewed “egregious content.”
In response to the change, porn site YouPorn.com is reportedly getting revenge.
YouPorn, one of the 200 highest-traffic websites in the world, said in an internal memo to employees Thursday, obtained and reported by TMZ, it will ban all Starbucks products from its offices effective Jan. 1.
YouPorn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new software will automatically filter sites guests try to access and prevent them from getting to ones that feature nude pictures and other sexual content. Starbucks did not share the name of the software it plans to use.
In 2016, fast food restaurants McDonald’s, Subway, and Chick-fil-A introduced filters that blocked porn on store Wi-Fi. Starbucks had stated at the time that it would also do so, but did not.
As of Thursday, more than 26,000 people had signed an online petition asking Starbucks to follow through on the 2016 commitment. Enough is Enough, a nonprofit that advocates for a safer Internet for children and families, created the form in an attempt to light a fire under the mega coffee chain.
“Apparently, Starbucks cares more about providing paper straws to protect the environment than protecting kids and patrons on its public WiFi! Starbucks broke its promise to filter pornography and child sex abuse images, despite its public announcement it would voluntarily provide safe WiFi in its restaurants nationwide … an announcement more than 2 and-a-half years ago!” the petition, dated Nov. 20, states.
Enough is Enough CEO Donna Rice Hughes said Starbucks “won’t get an applause until they’ve actually implemented safe Wi-Fi filtering.”
