A Yahoo! spokesman denied that the decision to censor items for auction was a response to the French court's ruling against which Yahoo! is said to be appealing. He claimed that the company’s decision to ban such auctions was based on moral, not legal grounds, adding that Yahoo! does not want to profit from items that promote or glorify hatred.
Yahoo! has not appealed the decision of the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance to a higher French court. Instead, on 21st December, Yahoo! asked a US Federal Court in San Jose, California, to declare that the French govenment has no jurisdiction over Yahoo! in the US and therefore cannot enfore its fines. It is likely to be a few months before the US court rules on the matter.
According to the new proposal from Yahoo!, software will be used to filter the items for sale to prevent the auction of items connected with Nazism, the Ku Klux Klan, or other forbidden items such as live animals and cigarettes. Users will be able to appeal against any rejections.
Yahoo! is also introducing fees for users posting items for sale to its site, a move which could reduce the company’s dependence on advertising which now constitutes 80% of Yahoo!’s total revenue stream. Its auction pages list around 150,000 new items every day. The charges would range between 20 cents and $2.25 per item posted for sale, scaled according to the asking price.