The Dumb Joke Website That Got Caught Up in India’s Porn Ban

The website's lewd jokes may be wince-worthy, but it doesn't appear to be porn.

An Indian internet user points out at a porn site showing a blank screen after being blocked by the internet service providers based on directive issued by the telecom department to block porn websites across the country, in Bangalore on August 3, 2015. The Indian government has sent a notice to internet service providers to block more than 850 porn websites on July 31 and service providers have already started blocking popular porn sites.   AFP PHOTO/ Manjunath KIRAN        (Photo credit should read Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)
An Indian internet user points out at a porn site showing a blank screen after being blocked by the internet service providers based on directive issued by the telecom department to block porn websites across the country, in Bangalore on August 3, 2015. The Indian government has sent a notice to internet service providers to block more than 850 porn websites on July 31 and service providers have already started blocking popular porn sites. AFP PHOTO/ Manjunath KIRAN (Photo credit should read Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)
An Indian internet user points out at a porn site showing a blank screen after being blocked by the internet service providers based on directive issued by the telecom department to block porn websites across the country, in Bangalore on August 3, 2015. The Indian government has sent a notice to internet service providers to block more than 850 porn websites on July 31 and service providers have already started blocking popular porn sites. AFP PHOTO/ Manjunath KIRAN (Photo credit should read Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)

Among 857 sites the Indian government this week described as pornographic -- banned and then swiftly unbanned -- was a surprising inclusion: nonvegjokes.com.

Among 857 sites the Indian government this week described as pornographic — banned and then swiftly unbanned — was a surprising inclusion: nonvegjokes.com.

In seeking to block some of the web’s most popular porn sites, the Indian government claimed it was acting to prevent “social nuisance.” The ban faced an immediate and widespread backlash among Indian web users and free speech activists, who furiously accused the government of overstepping its bounds in trying to regulate online content. The order from the Indian government required Internet service providers to restrict access to the list of sites provided by authorities.

Website number 854 on that list — nonvegjokes — appears to bolster claims by activists that the Indian government used a highly expansive definition of what constitutes pornography. Nonvegjokes is a humor site specializing in off-color jokes. Its name refers to the description of lewd humor as “non-vegetarian.”

The website is far from a repository of comedic gold. It includes wince-inducing gems, like: “Sex is like a pizza. When it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good,” and “What is the height of laziness? A husband laying on his wife and waiting for an earthquake.” But it doesn’t appear to contain any obvious pornography. And that’s key to why the ban has set off such a vehement reaction among Indian web users.

Photo credit: Manjunath Kiran/AFP

Twitter: @EliasGroll

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