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Banning of porn sites with strict terms of service is a “disservice to the people of India” and will only lead people to “go to risky porn sites that may contain illegal content”, Corey Price, VP of Pornhub, the Canada-based adult entertainment networks, told indianexpress.com. He was reacting to the Department of Telecom’s move to block access to 827 porn sites on an order by the Uttarakhand High Court.
Responding to email queries, Price said it’s “still too early” to determine the full extent of the impact, but “traffic has declined”. India is the third largest source of traffic for Pornhub, which Alexa ranks as the 29th most popular website in the world and arguably the single largest adult entertainment website.
Price reminded that there are “no laws against pornography in India and watching adult content privately”.
“It’s evident that the Indian government does not have a solution to a very serious and systemic problem in the country, and is using adult sites like ours as a scapegoat,” he said. The Pornhub VP said that while his company is against government censorship and ultimately disappointed by the move to block sites, it was “willing to work alongside the government to address any concerns they have and help rectify the situation”.
He expressed fear that Indian users seeking adult content will go to “risky porn sites that may contain illegal content”.
“For the government to ban sites like ours that have compliant parental controls, a non-consensual take down page and a strict Terms of Service is a disservice to the people of India,” he added.
Price said that while there is no way to gauge this, there is a possibility that there has been a surge in VPN traffic. A VPN, or virtual private network, allows users to browse the Internet privately by masking their IP address.
In October 2018, Meity had asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to block 827 websites named in the list issued as part of the order. “… all the internet service licensees are instructed to take immediate necessary action for blocking of 827 websites as per the direction from Meity and for the compliance of the Hon’ble High Court order,” the Department of Telecom said in its order issued to internet service providers.
