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"To ensure the Third Place remains safe and welcoming to all, we have identified a solution to prevent this content from being viewed within our stores and we will begin introducing it to our US locations in 2019," a Starbucks representative told Business Insider.
The move comes after years of pressure from a petition launched by internet safety group Enough is Enough, which had garnered more than 26,000 signatures as of Wednesday.
The organization's CEO, Donna Rice Hughes, came down on the coffee giant in the petition for failing to follow through on a promise to block explicit websites.
"By breaking its commitment Starbucks is keeping the doors wide open for convicted sex offenders and patrons to fly under the radar from law enforcement and use free, public WiFi services to view or distribute graphics or obscene pornography, child pornography (an illegal crime), or engage in sexual predation activity," she wrote on the petition.
"Having unfiltered hotspots also allows children and teens to easily bypass filters and other parental control tools set up by their parents on their smart phones, tablets, and laptops."
Hughes told Business Insider she is "thrilled" that Starbucks has finally followed through, even though it's well behind others including McDonald's, Subway and Chick-fil-A.
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