When we think of iconic feuds, we all think of the same things, right? Hatfields and McCoys, Romeo’s Montagues and Juliet’s Capulets, YouPorn and Starbucks. Right? Well, if those last two sound like the odd ducks out, you’re forgiven, but no more after what transpired this week.YouPorn, the succinctly titled adult film company, has banned Starbucks products from its offices after the coffee seller announced it would ban porn on its cafe Wi-Fi starting in 2019.
Originally reported by BuzzFeed, an internal company memo sent from YouPorn’s vice president, Charlie Hughes, detailed the Starbucks ban to office employees on Thursday.
“In light of the news that Starbucks has blocked customers from searching and viewing adult content within their establishments, Starbucks products will officially be banned from the YouPorn offices, effective January 1st, 2019,” the memo reads.
Any YouPorn employees who took issue with the ban were directed to “see your direct manager for any questions.”
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Starbucks, like most major restaurants and cafes, already bans the use of its free public Wi-Fi for viewing porn, but this is the first instance of the company taking a proactive approach and actually instituting a block on adult content. The move comes after years of pressure from internet safety advocates.
A Starbucks representative told BuzzFeed in a statement that “While it rarely occurs, the use of Starbucks public Wi-Fi to view illegal or egregious content is not, nor has it ever been, permitted, 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.”
It’s a move that comes after the U.K. government decided to crack down on viewing porn in public establishments in 2015. There, establishments could advertise that they participate in the “Friendly Wi-Fi” program that ensures pornographic content can’t be viewed on their network thanks to a government-installed filter, which caused an uproar from internet freedom advocates.
It’s been a rough year overall for Starbucks, with a high profile incident involving two black men being arrested for merely waiting for a friend, prompting the company to shut down for a day to hold sensitivity training sessions.
H/T BuzzFeed
