BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday passed legislation outlawing online adult content in the country.
According to a statement by the Council’s Department of Public and Media Relations, measures titled “On Prohibition of Access to Sites Containing Pornographic Content Elements in the Internet Space of the Kyrgyz Republic” and “On Amendments to the Code of Offenses of the Kyrgyz Republic” were considered and approved.
Kyrgyzstan news site 24.kg reports that the proposed law would require website operators to remove pornographic content within 24 hours of receiving a government request to do so, or face “suspension.”
If Pres. Sadyr Japarov signs the measure into law, the Cabinet of Ministers will create “a register of prohibited websites containing pornographic elements, access to which will be blocked throughout the republic,” according to 24.kg.
One of the law’s backers, MP Muradil Sydykov, said it was designed “to protect the moral and ethical values of society, and to hold those who distribute it on the internet accountable.”
As XBIZ reported in May, a background statement on the legislation declares, “Given the public accessibility of sites containing pornographic content on the internet, the emergence of an industry based on the distribution of pornography is destroying the spiritual, moral and ethical form of people’s consciousness.”
It is already illegal to import, produce, distribute or advertise pornographic materials or images in Kyrgyzstan. However, those laws have previously not applied to online content.