Network provider Three have unblocked The George bar’s website following complaints made by the LGBT+ community.

Users of Three noted that the iconic Dublin gay bar had their website blocked under Three’s default content filter settings. Every pre-pays Three sims now comes with a parental filter as default which users must apply to have removed with a valid ID.

The issue many found with this was that this filter was inconsistent with the sites it was blocking. A Twitter user pointed out that another Dublin nightclub, Coppers, was not blocked under the same restrictive browsing filter.

Noting this censoring, one Three user contacted the support services and asked for an explanation as to why this was happening. They were told that any accusations of discrimination were “simply absurd” and told that any “adult website classified [as over] 18 is censored.”

As pre-pay cards are sold to customers of all ages, they said they put this filter in place in order to avoid any underage person visiting any harmful or unsolicited website.

Once a user’s age is confirmed through a valid photo ID, Three removes the filter.

The problem users have encountered was that many websites and blogs were being blocked unpredictably with many LGBT+ sites being censored incorrectly.

Once this was brought to the attention of Three, they responded saying that the adult content filter is automatic and they have begun the process of unblocking The George’s site.

They tweeted saying, “thanks for bringing this to our attention. The adult content filter is automatic, so we’ve forwarded this site to the relevant team and they have removed the filter. It can take up to 24 hours for that to process fully.”

They also stated that they have taken steps to address the comments made by the chat agent:

“I have also passed your experience to the chat agent and team leader so this can be addressed appropriately.”

We have reached out to Three for comment.