Porn Sites Beat Government Ban in India: Here’s How
In 2023, India boasted over 1.2 billion internet users, a number expected to swell to over 1.6 billion by 2050. Despite the government’s stern efforts to clamp down on over 800 pornographic websites, including the behemoths Pornhub, Xvideos and Xhamster, Indians have proven adept at finding ways around the digital barricades. A recent report shows that in 2019, a staggering 89% of Indians accessed porn via mobile devices, up from 86% in 2017.
Even with the ban, Pornhub data reveals a slight increase in average session time for Indian users in 2018, clocking in at 8 minutes and 23 seconds. The demographic breakdown is equally intriguing: 44% of visitors were aged 18-24, 41% were 25-34, with the average age being 29. Notably, 30% of Indian traffic on Pornhub came from women, mirroring the global statistic. This data is expected to be in the similar lines or more for Xvideos and Xhamster, favourites in some circles.
So how are Indians beating the ban? Enter website mirroring. Pornhub, for instance, swiftly launched a mirror site accessible via a new domain, pornhub.net. When it comes to Xvideos and Xhamster, they mostly appear with the extensions of either desi or random numbers at the tail end of their URLs. Mirroring entails creating an exact copy of a website on a different server or domain, ensuring its availability and enhancing performance. This strategy distributes traffic across multiple servers, reducing latency and improving loading times. Mirrored sites also act as backups, guaranteeing uninterrupted service if the primary site encounters issues.
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But that’s not all. As the government went ahead with the massive ban on adult sites in India, websites like Hidester, Hide.me, and Anonymouse effortlessly bypassed the block, while other sites, such as Behance.net, encouraged users to download their mobile app for anonymous browsing. For those less tech-savvy, a thriving market of offline pornography still persists, with porn DVDs and flash drives readily available. Some use the facility of VPN to surpass the ban.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) works by creating a secure and encrypted connection between your device and a remote server operated by the VPN service.
Interestingly, Indian law does not criminalize watching porn in private; it’s the storage and publication of child sexual abuse images that are punishable offenses. Meanwhile, mobile users have already begun voicing complaints about ISPs blocking porn sites, adding another layer to the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between authorities and internet users.
