Indian ISPs blocking porn websites?

While some users are just getting a “This site has been blocked as per the instructions of Competent Authority,” others are seeing a message that indicates that the sites are being blocked as per directions received from Department of Telecom.

It looks like a number of internet users in India are not being able to access popular porn websites. Twitter and Reddit users are reporting that state-owned ISPs MTNL and BSNL and privately-owned ISPs ACT, Spectranet, Tikona, Asianet and Hathway are blocking access to major porn websites. Mobile operator Vodafone is also blocking these websites. 

While some users are just getting a "This site has been blocked as per the instructions of Competent Authority," others are seeing a message that indicates that the sites are being blocked as per directions received from Department of Telecom, Government of India. Some users are just getting blank pages or "Directory doesn't exist," error message. 

We have been able to independently confirm that the websites are being blocked by Vodafone in Delhi on its mobile network, returning blank pages. However, the same sites are working fine on Airtel's mobile and broadband network in the city. 

User reddesi posted a comment on a Reddit thread saying, "Could it be that a large majority of porn sites are hosted by one or two companies and maybe their pipe to India is broken right now? 11 out of these top 13 porn sites showing blank pages here on Spectranet in Delhi. Tracerourtes and ping are all connecting, slowly. Airtel mobile connection working normally." 

Another user SirPorthos posted, "Greetings from an ACT Hyd user. Yup. Most leading porn sites are blocked as well. Also, the general speed of the net has also taken a huge dive for whatever reason. FUP's renewed but am getting slower than the post FUP speeds." 

It's worth pointing out that in July, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, responding to a request for blocking of porn websites in a petition filed by Kamlesh Vaswani, had said, "It is an issue for the government to deal with. Can we pass an interim order directing blocking of all adult websites? And let us keep in mind the possible contention of a person who could ask what crime have I committed by browsing adult websites in private within the four walls of my house. Could he not argue about his right to freedom to do something within the four walls of his house without violating any law?" 


The bench asked additional solicitor general Pinky Anand why the MHA had not taken any action on the list of websites and also not filed any response to the petition as sought by the court. Anand assured the court that the needful would be done. "The ministry will soon file a response to the petition and detail the action taken. All necessary steps under the Information and Technology Act will be taken," she said. 

Last year, Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) had told the SC that they were mere conduits for providing internet access to customers and could not ban websites featuring child pornography without orders from the court or the government.

In the same case, the central government had said blocking all websites with pornographic content in the country was not possible and it would cause more harm as literary content containing such words would also not be available for public on internet. 

The apex court had on November 2013 issued notice to the department of telecommunication (DoT) seeking its response as to how to block websites with pornographic content in the country, particularly those featuring child pornography. 

Source: The Times of India