LONDON — Sex & Censorship, a U.K.-based free speech and sexual freedom group, announced that its “online day of action” held yesterday received significant mainstream attention.
Besides inundating Twitter with its hashtag #CensoredUK, the campaign received a nod from The Telegraph, in an article citing the “hidden costs” of introducing porn filters in the U.K.
Dr. Brook Magnanti wrote in her op-ed, “The #CensoredUK hashtag, spearheaded by the Sex and Censorship group, has been drawing attention to some of the unexpected sites that end up being blocked when Internet providers buckle to government demands to censor ‘adult content.’”
Sex & Censorship had urged supporters to use the #CensoredUK hashtag on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms as a collective stance against further online censorship by the government.
Launched late Wednesday night, Sex & Censorship said regular tweets were being made on the campaign’s behalf by Thursday morning. By Thursday afternoon, the hashtag was trending in London and across the U.K.
The online day of action was scheduled to coincide with U.K. media regulator ATVOD’s conference “For Adults Only? — protecting children from online porn,” which Sex & Censorship Founder Jerry Barnett had openly criticized. The conference took place yesterday in London.
SexAndCensorship.org’s latest blog post reiterated its criticism of ATVOD, and offered a short recap of the conference.
“We heard a series of hysterical claims about the effects of pornography, but were offered no evidence to back them,” the blog post said.
It continued, “We live in an increasingly safe society, but a coalition of campaigners want to convince us that thing are getting worse. A rising moral panic is under way; the purpose of the Sex & Censorship campaign is counter those messages and replace hysteria with evidence-based thinking.”
The Free Speech Coalition and the ASACP also attended the conference. To read about their report, click here.
