The Indian government has tightened its efforts to ban pornographic websites in the country. Internet companies in India have now been asked to block 67 additional pornographic websites in the country following the court orders with respect to the new IT rules issued in 2021. The latest order is posted on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) website). The order mentions 63 websites, while 4 websites are blocked based on the order of the Uttarakhand HC and directions issued by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, reports PTI.
In addition to previous websites that have been blocked in the country, these new websites will soon be inaccessible on mobile devices as well as laptops, desktops, etc. According to the order, the websites have been banned under the new IT Rules 2021 which bans content that “shows such individual in full or partial nudity or shows or depicts such individual in any sexual act or conduct”. Further, such content which is allegedly impersonated or artificially morphed is also banned.
Back in 2018, the government had banned close to 827 porn websites after orders from the Uttarakhand High Court. It should be noted that at the time, while the Uttarakhand High Court asked the government to block 857 websites, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) had found 30 portals without any pornographic content.
Which porn websites have been banned?
Here’s the complete list of all pornographic websites that have been blocked by the Indian government. 63 additional new websites have also been banned in the country. Check out the list of newly banned websites in the PDF below.
Govt orders internet companies to block 67 pornographic websites following court orders and for violating new IT rules issued in 2021
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 29, 2022
The latest ban brings the total number of banned porn websites in India close to 900. You can check out the previous list below. The most prominent name in the list at the time was of course Pornhub.com, which is one of the largest pornography websites in world.
At the time of the porn ban in India, Corey Price, VP of Pornhub had told indianexpress.com that banning of porn sites which have 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”. India was the third largest source of traffic for Pornhub at the time.
Price had also reiterated that there are “no laws against pornography in India and watching adult content privately”. He had expressed fear that Indian users seeking adult content will go to “risky porn sites that may contain illegal content”.
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