The porn industry hopes to find an unlikely ally in Google

The porn industry hopes to find an unlikely ally in Google
(Image credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

The pornography industry hopes that Google will help save its work from piracy.

Both porn stars and pornography studios have asked Google to publicize "legal ways to buy adult content," the BBC reports. Google offers suggestions for legal ways to listen to Taylor Swift's music, which isn't on Spotify, and the porn industry thinks they deserve the same treatment.

"Google continues to discriminate against the adult industry," actress Angela White told the BBC. She added that the search engine is "perpetuating the misconception that the adult industry is not a legitimate industry."

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Music and film companies have to pay Google to have their (legal) streaming and purchasing options displayed in Google's right panel. But the adult industry isn't allowed to buy ads on Google's network. Porn figures are imploring Google to lift the policy and to treat their work "like any other professional industry," White said.

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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.