Porn Ban

Over the past week, Bangladesh has blocked tens of thousands of sites and apps and is policing the social media accounts of celebrities in an effort to scrub the nation’s internet of pornography.

The porn purge comes as part of the government’s push to crack down on adult-oriented content like porn and gambling, which originated with a November decision in Bangladesh’s High Court, according to Al Jazeera.

Declaring War

“I want to create a safe and secure internet for all Bangladeshis, including children,” said Mustafa Jabbar, Bangladeshi posts and telecommunications minister. “And this is my war against pornography. And this will be a continuous war.”

That war on porn also seems to involve micromanaging the lives of celebrities. The Bangladeshi government recently ordered a local actress to delete what it determined were provocative pictures from her various social media accounts, Al Jazeera reports.

“We are monitoring the local Facebook profiles, YouTube channels and websites, also,” Jabbar said. “A few of them were taken down for having obscene content. We advised a few others not to post anything that goes against our social norms.”

Behind Seven Proxies

So far, internet service providers have complied with the government’s demands. But the nation’s porn hungry internet users can still access porn with a little technological wizardry.

A Bangladeshi official confirmed that the country’s new regulations can be skirted using a virtual private network or mirror websites, according to Al Jazeera.

READ MORE: Bangladesh blocks 20,000 websites in anti-porn ‘war’ [Al Jazeera]

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Bangladesh Declares “War on Pornography,” Blocks TikTok