"Honey, If You Send Sexy Photos, You Could Get Arrested"... In China, Even Spouses Can Be Punished for Sharing Pornographic Content

According to The Financial News, starting next year in China, anyone who shares pornographic photos or videos with friends or romantic partners could face detention for 10 to 15 days and a fine of up to 5,000 yuan (approximately 1.06 million KRW).

On the 26th, local media including Sing Tao Daily reported that China will enforce the revised Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People's Republic of China starting from the first of next month.
The main point of the law, amended last June, is that it makes it illegal to distribute sexually explicit photos or videos via the internet, telephone, or other communication methods.
The issue is that the law does not exempt one-on-one exchanges of such material between spouses, romantic partners, or friends through mobile messengers or text messages.
If a violation is confirmed, offenders may be detained for 10 to 15 days and fined up to 5,000 yuan (about 1 million KRW). For minor cases, the penalty may be up to 5 days of detention or a fine ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 yuan (about 210,000 to 630,000 KRW). If the material involves minors, the punishment is more severe.
Chinese authorities state that these measures are intended to strongly address crimes involving minors, but the revised law broadly regulates all transmission of pornography via the internet, which has sparked controversy.
Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, commented on his Social Networking Service (SNS) account, "Including affectionate or playful messages between spouses or romantic partners as 'distribution of pornography' is an excessive application of the law," and criticized, "How can the birth rate increase in such an environment?"
However, Chinese authorities countered, "The purpose of this amendment is to protect minors involved in sex crimes," and added, "Critics cite extreme cases to argue the law is unfair, but neither in the past nor present have such extreme cases ever been punished."

moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter