The government ordered that 857 porn websites be blocked and plans to put in place an ombudsman to look into cyber content-related issues, even as a debate rages on social media over Internet censorship.
In their enthusiasm, however, the government ended up blocking many websites which host content that may not be safe for a younger audience but is far from anything to do with pornography.
The government is under the impression that the blocked websites show child pornography. Why? Because the petitioner says so. Basically, no due diligence.
Here are some ‘not quite porn’ websites that you cannot see because of the government’s blocking juggernaut.
CollegeHumor
Founded by two high school friends, CollegeHumor is one of the original daily light-hearted content providers online. 5.4 million people follow them on Facebook, many of whom are from India. CollegeHumor also ranks amongst the top 1000 sites in the US. Turns out the CH team ended up having the last laugh with this story (which you can’t read if you are in India thanks to the government).
9GAG TV
9GAG TV is a video content aggregator. And they share some really interesting stuff. Sample this (just to give you an idea, since you can’t really click and read it).
Heck, even The Quint covered this story.
Barstool Sports
The folks at Barstool Sports describe themselves as “a bunch of slobs, who think and care about what the average guy thinks and cares about across the country.” Barstool Sports is a viral content aggregating and sharing website. Most of their stories are US-centric.
Shitbrix.com
Shitbrix shares memes! Not porn. As simple as that. Why would you block memes? Everyone loves memes!
Popurl.com
Popurl describes itself as a “premium aggregator to the best of the web, available on every major platform and device.” Kind of like Reddit.
Now, Xvideos, also on the government’s block list, is an actual porn site. Online metrics analysts at Alexa rank Xvideos at 45 globally and at 19 in India. And they just snubbed the Indian government by posting this on their Twitter account to over 137,000 followers there.
Vote better next time!
— Xvideos