The Telefonica-owned mobile network O2 has branded lovefre.sh, a UK start up website selling farmer market foods by location, an adult site. When a user installs the app on their iPhone and tries to access the site they are redirected to a blank page. The issue has only been reported on the O2 network, "the problem is that most iPhones in the UK are on O2," said the CEO Mark Spofforth, "I"m despondent about it. It"s just crippling."
The company only recently discovered that a third party behind the content blocking system had classed their website as adult, with over 18,000 downloads so far the company are worried about what this may do to business, "Personally I find it worrying that O2 wants to be my dad but I"m more concerned with what it"s doing to our business." said Matt Boyle on the official blog.
O2 only recently implement their new age verification system on Thursday 3rd of this month, but forgot to tell their customers. If any of the 20m users tries to access a website with an 18+ rating they will need to make a payment by credit card. While the company says the new system is to protect children, understandably users are not happy with complaints popping up all over the internet.
"To ensure that children are protected from inappropriate content...", "Access to 18+ rated websites is therefore blocked by default. Customers only have to age verify once." said the O2 blog. A company spokesperson acknowledged that people may find it inconvenient and apologized for the lack of advertising when introducing the new service.