July 15, 2016
Fortune: McDonald's Just Made Surfing for Porn Harder.
An internet safety group had been clamoring for change for years
If you want to watch porn while enjoying a Big Mac, you now have to use your own data plan.
McDonald’s recently changed its free WiFi access to prevent customers from watching pornography on their smartphones and other devices, following years of pressure from internet safety advocacy group Enough is a Enough.
“We are pleased to share that WiFi filtering has been activated in the majority of McDonald’s nearly 14,000 restaurants nationwide, improving upon the restaurant experience for our customers,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman told Fortune in an e-mailed statement. The company has previously said it wasn’t aware of any pornography related incidents in its stores. (Last year, Target investigated an incident at one of its California stores when pornographic audio was heard over the loudspeakers, causing the retailer much embarrassment.)
Two years ago, EIE began a campaign to get McDonald’s to change the policy. “Parents can have peace of mind that, when they or their children go to McDonald’s, they will have a safer and more friendly WiFi experience, filtered from pornography, from child porn and from potential sexual exploitation and predation,” said EIE President Donna Rice Hughes. EIE said McDonald’s new policy is similar to that of rivals like Chick-fil-A and Panera Bread
Retailers and restaurants like McDonald’s and Starbucks offer customers free WiFi as a way to increase customer traffic and also help them shop while in a store or restaurant.