China porn ban: Government to give £68,000 to people who report content
Women are just as aroused by porn as men, the study found. (Pexels)
China has announced that it will give 600,000 yuan (£68,500) to anyone who reports the publication of porn.
The reward is double the previous amount offered to those who find porn, which is illegal in all forms in the country, according to Tech in Asia.
The new rules will be enforced by a China government body whose name translates as “Clean Up the Pornographic, Strike the Illegal” and which has reportedly removed tens of thousands of websites this year for allegedly obscene or anti-government content.
China has also raised the fine for any content, published online or offline, which “endangers ideological security, cultural security, physical and mental health of minors” to as much as 50,000 yuan (£5,700).
The average salary in China is around 70,000 yuan (£8,000).
Authorities in China crack down on porn
The danger to anyone publishing porn has been shown repeatedly this year. In Huangshan, a city in east China with 1.5 million people, authorities have taken part in 10,000 raids, involving 20,000 police officers.
In these raids, the officers searched bookstores, printing and copying companies, and internet cafes for any content which could be deemed illegal.
Last month, a Chinese erotic writer was jailed for more than 10 years after including gay sex scenes in one of her novels.
State media reported that the writer, who uses the internet alias Tianyi, was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison by a court in Anhui province for “producing and selling pornographic materials” in her 2017 novel Occupation, which features gay sex scenes between a teacher and a student.
People react to China government’s porn law change
Many were dismayed at the news that the government is increasing its focus on porn, with one commenter on Chinese social media platform Weibo writing: “If you have to fart, you will have to report it. It’s hell.”
“Is there any money that makes people feel less guilty?”
— User on Chinese social media platform Weibo
Another responded by writing that the larger reward for reporting fellow citizens would not be enough to soothe those people’s consciences.
“Do you want to kill your life? Is there any money that makes people feel less guilty?” they asked.
One Weibo user urged others to ensure that the China government announcement resulted in a dramatic drop in employees showing up to their jobs.
Many were angry at the China government’s announcement of a higher reward for reporting content included in the ban (Pexels)
“Ok, I will not go to work from today,” they wrote. “I will look for materials everywhere, to see who is not pleasing to the eye, and report them for money.
“I also call on everyone else not to go to work.”
Many others said that by cracking down on porn, the China government was making it considerably more difficult for couples to have children, with one person saying: “The legitimate channels for the acquisition of sexual content are all blocked, and the non-legitimate channels are unable to obtain sexual content.
“How are we supposed to conceive children in this country? By patriotism?”
