Facebook Messenger Is Censoring Some Porn Sites, Report Says

LOS ANGELES — Facebook Messenger, the new mobile app, censors some porn sites, according to a blog post on Reason.com today.

Reason claims that it was tipped off by a Cleveland man's Facebook post that said he couldn't share porn links on the new service, which, since its roll out this week, has caused a wrinkle among users regarding concern for their privacy settings.

Reason, in the post, came up with a list of porn sites that it found were blocked using Facebook Messenger. Those banned websites included Brazzers.com, HardSexTube.com, ImageFap.com, Porn.com, RedTube.com, Spankwire.com, XHamster.com, PornHub.com, XNXX.com and YouPorn.com.

But Reason also said that some websites, including YouJizz.com and EmpFlix.com, were still linkable.

The Cleveland man, Reason noted, explained on Facebook that he wasn't even trying to transmit porn via a link. Rather, he said, he employed a link of "a totally safe-for-work six-minute video of someone playing drums" that was uploaded to XVideos.com, one of the top adult tube sites.

"Facebook communication interception appears to be inconsistent," the Reason post said. "A lot of mature-content pages do make it past the block, but many others don't. Reason reached out to Facebook several times for an explanation of its security and pornography policies, and why XVideos gets flagged but other popular sites like PornHub.com, Gallery-of-Nudes.com, and Porn-Star.com do not."

XBIZ also reached out to Facebook over Reason's allegations but the social network has yet to reply.

The new Facebook Messenger for mobile devices has caused some outrage, beyond the porn issue, among users regarding concern for their privacy settings.

If you use Facebook on your mobile device, you probably received a notice this week alerting you to download a new app to direct message your friends.

After users download the app, Facebook's terms and conditions states that they will be giving the app permission to read your phone contacts, access your exact location with your phone's GPS, read and edit your text messages, take pictures and videos and record audio.

Facebook has published a “Get the Facts” post to disclose why it needs these permissions. The social network explained that nearly all applications on mobile devices seek user consent to run various features in the app.