Social media websites and circulation of explicit contents- with special reference to Kerala, India

Abstract

With the COVID-19 lockdown, a drastic increase in number of people viewing child pornography in Kerala was noticed. Recent reports state high rate of pornography consumption across the country, and increasing demand for child pornography. When compared to other states, Kerala is the largest producer of porn videos in India as per previous reports of Times of India in 2012. Trivandrum, Kochi stands out in the list of highest porn viewership in Kerala. Alcohol addiction, lack of sex education and a conservative society are considered as factors contributing to this scenario. We apparently came to know about the existence of such social media groups that circulate these contents. 100 local males of age group between 15-30 were taken as samples and the survey was completed with the circulation of google form. The social networking sites we focused where Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram. As per the results, the highest sample response where for telegram on circulation of explicit content. This research deals with the study of circulation of explicit content across social media- telegram in particular, the anonymity of the senders and recipients, security of the platform, the laws and theories behind it. Other aspects include psychological dependency of viewers, child pornography, incest contents, child abuse along with the government initiatives for the control of the same. As per the findings, telegram holds several group circulating these contents and are easily available and accessible to anybody.