Fijians are dedicating considerable time to watching pornography, according to recent discussions in Parliament. It was reported that in a span of three months, Fijians accessing pornographic websites consumed a staggering 626.13 terabytes (TB) of data, which is roughly equivalent to reading 100 million books during that timeframe.
Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica, who chairs the National Taskforce to Address Pornography, described pornography as “a silent epidemic” that is significantly influencing Fiji’s digital landscape and affecting many lives. He noted that last year, over 3,600 cases involving child sexual abuse material were reported to the U.S. National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Kamikamica emphasized the scale of internet traffic related to pornography, highlighting that one network provider observed that adult content accounted for a substantial portion of their data usage. He pointed out that the 626.13 TB consumed is comparable to storing the information found in 100 million books or watching movies non-stop for more than 150 years if one were to watch a movie every day.
He further acknowledged the global nature of this issue, noting that in the previous year, 245 electronic service providers reported over 35 million instances of suspected Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Citing data from INHOPE for 2023, he revealed that a staggering 83 percent of child abuse victims were aged between three to 13 years. Additionally, statistics from Interpol indicated that in 2018, 65 percent of unidentified victims were female, while 93 percent of visual offenses were committed against males.
Kamikamica expressed that the formation of the national taskforce symbolizes the Coalition Government’s commitment to tackling this issue, taking action to protect communities and vulnerable individuals across Fiji.