Uganda to use porn-detecting machine as it places ban on pornography, sexting

In a bid to prevent the use or distribution of pornographic material in the country, Uganda has inaugurated a nine-member anti-pornography team.

Ethics minister Simon Lokodo said the government would spend Ush2 billion ($556,000) each year to fund the activities of the committee which was inaugurated in Kampala on Monday.

According to Mr Lokodo, the team will have a dedicated technical staff of between 30 and 40, the East African News reports.

He said the committee will acquire top-end gadgets to monitor and or intercept, downloading, watching, sharing and or transmission of electronic pornographic material. The Uganda Communications Commission, which has been co-opted, will deal with media and cinema proprietors who broadcast such material.

The minister, who has been on a public campaign against pornography, said it is “one of the deadliest moral diseases in this country” that needed to be stopped if the country was to attend to development.

“Pornography is now eroding Uganda’s human resource,” he said, adding that “this will in turn hinder the achievement of our vision.”
“The display, sale and circulation of pornographic images in the print and electronic media is one of the key reasons we have escalating cases of drug abuse among youths, incest, teenage pregnancy and abortion, homosexuality and lesbianism and defilement,” he said.

According to the Anti-Pornography Act, 2014, the team is required to identify, seize and destroy any pornographic material.

They are also mandated to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators as well as promote the rehabilitation of individuals affected by pornography.