President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni
Kampala Internet service providers have finally blocked pornography websites in fulfillment of the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) orders.
At least 25 of the 27 banned websites cannot be accessed on mobile phones.
However, users of VPN can access the banned sites. There are other websites that are acting as proxies for the banned porn sites.
Yoweri Museveni
Three of the sites – Pornhub.com, Xvideos.com and Youporn.com – were among the top 100 most visited websites in Uganda before the ban took effect. The sites have been providing pornographic material for free.
The chairperson of the Pornography Control Committee, Dr Annette Kezaabu, said there is a drop in the number of people accessing pornography after they blocked the prominent porn sites.
“As I speak, we have a team that is compiling a list of other porn sites that will be blocked. We anticipate that some people will open up new sites but this is a continuous process,” Dr Kezaabu said yesterday.
The list will be sent to UCC that will order internet service providers to block them, she added.
In July, Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, the UCC executive director, wrote to telecommunication companies and internet service providers, ordering them to “ensure that pornographic material is not uploaded or downloaded through its services”.
According to Section 13 of the Anti-Pornography Act 2014, a person shall not produce, traffic in, publish, broadcast, procure, import, export, sell or abet any form of pornography and anyone who commits such is liable, on conviction, to a fine of Shs10m or imprisonment not exceeding 10 years.
Some of the porn sites were carrying leaked nude videos of Ugandan celebrities and others have been dealing in escort services (those that advertise sex workers).
Dr Kezaabu said the problem will be solved when UCC procures a machine that detects pornographic material.
