Last week, the Indian government directed telcos to block 827 porn sites, including Pornhub – one of the biggest adult content sites. In response, Pornhub has launched a new website specifically for its Indian users, pornhub.net.
According to PornHub’s yearly review of 2017, India is the third largest consumer of its content. The company’s VP, Corey Price said that watching porn privately is not illegal in the country and it is ready to work with the government to find a middle ground:
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.
While we are anti-government censorship here at Pornhub, and ultimately disappointed in the ruling, we are willing to work alongside the government to address any concerns they have and help rectify the situation.
The company also accused the government of blocking popular sites like Pornhub and not blocking other dangerous sites that host prohibited content.
“This is apparent by the fact that they only banned large sites like Pornhub’s, and didn’t block thousands of risky porn sites that may contain illegal content,” Price added. “For the government to ban sites like ours that have compliant parental controls, a non-consensual takedown page and a strict Terms of Service is a disservice to the people of India, who have become one of the largest connoisseurs of adult content.”
Last year, PornHub worked with the Russian authorities to make passport mandatory to log in to the site.
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