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Yahoo Closes Chat Rooms Over Sex Content

Reacting to angry protests from several of its top sponsors, Yahoo Inc. has pulled the plug on perhaps hundreds of chat rooms operating on its site after a media report revealed that some of the rooms were used to promote sex with minors.

Companies such as PepsiCo Inc., State Farm Insurance and Georgia-Pacific Corp. stopped advertising on Yahoo after they were informed that adults were attempting to lure children into sexual encounters within some of Yahoo's user-created chat rooms, according to a report by KPRC-TV in Houston.

Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako, who declined to say when the service will return or why all the user-created sites were closed, said the Internet portal shuttered the service for improvements and to ensure "compliance with our terms of service."

While Yahoo may be cracking down on violators of its terms, others, who presumably were adhering to the terms, have been barred from their chat rooms as well.

How long the chat rooms that allegedly promoted sex with minors have operated is unclear.

Yahoo does not monitor the content in the chat rooms, but will close a room if it receives complaints, Osako said.

Resource: Forbes

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