WHSmith has put its website back online after suspending it due to fears it included abuse-themed books.
The high street retailer took its site offline earlier this week after it became embroiled in the self-publishing scandal that ebooks featuring rape, incest and bestiality were available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other websites.
People trying to access WHSmith’s web address were instead redirected to a message reading: "We are disgusted by these particular titles, find this unacceptable and we in no way whatsoever condone them."
The chainstore’s ebook supplier, Kobo, continues to suspend the sale of all self-published ebooks on its UK site while it checks their content.
All titles not found to offend Kobo’s policies will go back on sale in a few days’ time.
A Kobo spokesman said: "Kobo is taking immediate action to resolve this issue which is a direct results of a select few autheros and publishers violating Kobo’s content policies.
"We are working hard to get back to business as usual, as quickly as possible."
Last week Amazon and Barnes & Noble were revealed to have abuse-themed content in the self-publishing sections.
The former’s search engine was also found to automatically suggest such books when a user typed innocuous keywords into its search engine, with no age verification to bar access to the ebooks.
The Ministry of Justice believes the sites may have breached the Obscene Publications Act, a law requiring publishers to protect consumers from inadvertently finding content which ouotrages public decency.
Read CBR’s verdict on whether self-publishing needs moderators here.
