Too much porn time | Fijians use data equivalent to reading 100 million books

FIJIANS spend a huge amount of time watching porn.

Parliament heard yesterday that Fijians accessing porn sites had used 626.13 tetrabites (TB) of data in three months, equivalent to reading 100 million books in the same period.

Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Task Force on Tackling Pornography, Manoa Kamikamica, said pornography was “a silent epidemic shaping Fiji’s digital world and having countless consequences”.

He added that more than 3,600 cases of child sexual abuse material were reported to the United States National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) last year.

Pornography is a silent epidemic shaping Fiji’s digital world and impacting countless lives, Kamikamica says.

“The last time I spoke when we discussed this issue, I mentioned that when we talked about web traffic to pornographic sites, for one network provider over a three-month period, 626.13 TB of data consumed was related to adult content and porn alone – is among the top 10 most used data traffic,” said Mr. Kamikamica.

“To put this into context, 626.13 TB (Tetrabytes) is approximately equal to the amount of data stored in 100 million books.

“Or imagine you have a collection of movies that would take over 150 years to watch non-stop, even if you watched one movie every day.

“We can see that adult content and pornography have gained a significant presence and take up a significant portion of network traffic.

“The numbers don’t lie. While it’s impossible to put realistic figures on how much of the Internet is made up of adult content, the industry is huge.

“It is a silent epidemic that is shaping our digital world and affecting countless lives.”

He said this is not just a national problem but also a global problem.

“Last year, 245 electronic service providers filed more than 35 million reports of suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their platforms.

“According to INHOPE, in 2023, 83 percent of child abuse victims reported to them were between the ages of three and thirteen.

“Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation database shows that in 2018, 65 percent of unidentified victims were girls and 93 percent of visual crimes were male.”

He said the establishment of the national task force was a strong demonstration of the Coalition Government’s commitment to action.

“It is a tangible step toward protecting our communities and protecting our most vulnerable citizens.”