Now, pornographers will always find creative ways to drive traffic to their product, so the impact of Google’s decision on the accessibility of porn will not be great. It is what this move signals about acceptability that is important. By specifically isolating it from all other online content, Google is affirming what we desperately don’t want to be true, but suspect is true: porn is qualitatively different from other forms of digital entertainment.

You may resist this conclusion about pornography. You may be able to mold an argument that shows that porn is morally, philosophically, or psychologically no different from other forms of entertainment. That’s delightful, but it doesn’t matter. In segregating porn from other content, Google has made this distinction a reality, whether you agree with it or not. This is their power, and it is being marshaled against porn’s march to the mainstream.

This marks the first time in recent years that a corporation of such power and prestige has arrayed its forces against those of sexual liberation. Whether Google’s power will be sufficient, or whether the decision will encourage other corporations to move against porn, remains to be seen. But, in combination with porn’s surprisingly fragile cultural position, Google’s move against the industry allows us to speculate that peak porn just may be on the horizon.