Fijians are reportedly spending significant time consuming pornography. During a recent parliamentary session, it was revealed that over a three-month period, residents accessed pornographic websites using a staggering 626.13 terabytes (TB) of data, which equates to reading approximately 100 million books within the same timeframe.
Manoa Kamikamica, Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the National Taskforce to Address Pornography, described pornography as a “silent epidemic” that is influencing Fiji’s digital environment and affecting numerous lives. He noted that more than 3,600 cases of child sexual abuse material were reported last year to the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Kamika added that the amount of data consumed related to adult content ranked among the top 10 for network data traffic. To illustrate the scale, he stated that 626.13TB is akin to possessing a movie collection that would require over 150 years of nonstop viewing if one movie were watched daily.
He emphasized the significant presence of adult content online, acknowledging the industry’s vastness and the ongoing challenges it presents both nationally and globally. He shared that last year, 245 electronic service providers made over 35 million reports of suspected Child Sexual Abuse Material across their platforms. Data from INHOPE in 2023 indicated that 83% of child abuse victims were aged between three to 13 years.
Kamikamica referenced Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation database, revealing that in 2018, 65% of unidentified victims were girls, while 93% of visual offenses involved males. He underlined the establishment of the national taskforce as a clear demonstration of the Coalition Government’s dedication to actionable steps towards protecting vulnerable communities and individuals.