Pornographic material will no longer feature on Telstra's BigPond website, under the directive of Telstra chief executive David Thodey.
In an internal email to staff, Thodey said the company does not want to support anything that could be construed as “sexist”.
A Telstra spokesperson told AdNews this was not in response to pressure from lobby groups, but was a personal decision from the CEO about the direction of the company.
Thodey was careful to point out to staff that the adult-oriented movies and videos on BigPond are mild if compared to other material on the internet. He said none of the material had an 'R' rating.
However, he argued that promoting material which might be construed as "objectifying women" is against the values of the company.
Thodey also said the decision was not about censorship, but about having respect for gender equality.
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