Cloudflare‘s Gateway internet filter service no longer offers a predefined category to block LGBTQ content, the company has said.
The announcement came about in response to a tweet by UK-based IT analyst Henry Cole, who noticed that one of the categories that Cloudflare Gateway offered to block was LGBTQ.
“Swap LGBTQ for Black or any other protected characteristic, and you can see that this really doesn’t look great on you,” Cole tweeted to Cloudflare.
Cloudflare quickly acknowledged the issue, and chalked it up as a mistake made by a third-party supplier, stating the company doesn’t categorize sites, but rather purchases prefabricated lists from outside.
Quick turnaround
Cloudflare’s SVP Dane Knecht engaged with Cole on Twitter, thanking him for bringing the issue to their attention, and noting that they were working to drop LGBTQ as a filter.
“It has been removed. We will also do a more thorough scrub over the next week to make sure [it] doesn’t exist anywhere else,” posted Knecht a couple of hours later.
The Register reports that while LGBTQ is no longer listed as a filter, perusing through the range of categories brings up several other categories that it suggests might be worth reviewing keeping in mind the sensibilities and preferences of its users.
Via The Register
