A new wave of arrests on Chinese producers of popular porn shakes the erotic community in the People’s Republic. People associated with the industry have long been forced into illegality.
Two months ago, the owners of the erotic webcam portal HuaHua were arrested and twenty people connected to the site were investigated. In the past few days, the Chinese police have continued their operations against producers of popular porn websites. China is thus continuing its aggressive censorship policy against eroticism, free speech and pornography.
Bounties on porn producers
Last year, bounties were offered to catch porn producers. As a result, over two million Chinese registered as Internet police. Every day, they search websites and social media for unwanted adult content.
In addition, the so-called »Great Firewall«, a censorship algorithm of the Chinese government, makes it difficult for Chinese users to access pornographic content anyway.
Arrest of 17 members of a »porn ring«.
Last Wednesday, there was a large-scale police operation against 17 suspects accused by state investigators of having founded and operated an illegal porn ring. According to the state media, the members of the ring have earned more than half a million dollars. The revenues exceeded the average Chinese’s income by a factor of ten.
Global censorship efforts complicate international solidarity
It can be assumed that with the increasing digitisation and surveillance of the country, censorship efforts will increase even further.
As Western societies, too, make ever greater efforts to ban pornographic content from the Internet or make access more difficult, the situation for free sexuality worldwide is likely to deteriorate for the foreseeable future. Closing ranks in the adult entertainment industry and international expressions of solidarity should be quickly considered.