Fijians are reportedly dedicating significant time to viewing pornography. In a session of Parliament, it was revealed that in just three months, Fijians accessing adult sites used 626.13 terabytes (TB) of data, which is akin to reading 100 million books in that same timeframe.
Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Taskforce to Address Pornography, Manoa Kamikamica, remarked that pornography represents a “silent epidemic” that is influencing Fiji’s digital landscape and affecting many lives. Last year, over 3,600 cases of child sexual abuse material were reported to the United States National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Kamikamica noted that statistics related to web traffic for pornographic sites are alarming, with one network provider indicating that a substantial amount of data consumed—over a three-month period—was dedicated to adult content, making it one of the ten most accessed types of data.
He emphasized that 626.13 TB of data usage is comparable to the information contained in 100 million books, which illustrates the vast scope of this issue. To visualize the extent, he suggested that watching a library of movies equating to this data would take over 150 years if viewed non-stop, one film per day.
Kamikamica affirmed that the prevalence of adult content online is significant, noting that while it’s challenging to quantify the overall size of adult content on the internet, the industry is massive.
He stressed that this matter is not only a concern for Fiji but a global problem. In the past year, 245 electronic service providers made over 35 million reports of suspected Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). According to INHOPE, in 2023, 83 percent of reported child abuse victims were between the ages of three and 13. Furthermore, data from Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation database indicated that in 2018, 65 percent of unidentified child victims were female while 93 percent of offenders were male.
Kamikamica highlighted that the formation of the national taskforce showcases the Coalition Government’s commitment to addressing this urgent issue. He described it as a significant move towards protecting vulnerable members of the community.