McDonald’s has implemented new filter to protect the restaurant’s guests from internet pornography on its free Wi-Fi networks at U.S. locations, according to the advocacy group Enough is Enough.
With this change, McDonald’s now offers porn-free Wi-Fi access in a majority of their locations and customers nationwide.
While McDonald’s has not been made aware of any pornography related incidents within its restaurants, the fast-food chain implemented the new policy in its corporate-owned locations in the first quarter of 2016 and made the service available to its franchises as well.
McDonald’s joined several other restaurant chains committed to blocking Wi-Fi access to the X-rated material, such as Subway, Panera Bread and Chick-Fil-A.
For two years, Enough is Enough (EIE) has pressured the world’s largest restaurant chain to prevent non-family friendly material from being viewed in its franchises. Its 75 partner organizations petitioned McDonald’s and Starbucks to set an example for corporate America by adopting voluntarily-filtered Wi-Fi networks.
Chains such as Starbucks, however, have yet to implement such filters. EIE’s president Donna Rice Hughes noted, “I’ve asked Starbucks employees whether they’ve had problems with customers in stores watching porn, and they’ve said, yes, that they sometimes have to tap customers on the shoulder” to close a website, she said.
“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,” Hughes said in a statement. “McDonald’s deserves widespread praise for this act of corporate responsibility and commitment to children and family safety.”