INSIGHTS | The power of prurient pleasure

Let’s face it: Pornography is becoming mainstream.

Around the world, adult content is available in almost any medium you can imagine (and perhaps some you couldn’t 😉). However, some countries—like China and many others—have gone to great lengths to ensure that the production, distribution, and/or consumption of erotic media is difficult if not impossible.

But, as the old saying goes: Where there is a will, there is a way.

When Tony Xu first proposed looking into pornography on WeChat for this great article, I was skeptical. With all the reports of how WeChat facilitates China’s control of information, surely porn would be an easy target for the platform’s automated control systems. Well, apparently I was wrong. People in China are watching porn just like everyone else.

Bottom line: The will for sexual content in China is not only there, but it’s growing. Not onl