MANILA -- A Filipino picture-sharing website is now offline over allegations that it hosted child pornography.
The account of PinoyChan, a Filipino imageboard website with around 9,000 hits a day, was apparently suspended by US-based company Dreamhost.
An email sent to the site owner and forwarded to Sun.Star complained of “illegal activity” on the website. Another email complained of illegal material posted (child pornography).
The emails were presumably sent by users of the website.
According to “Adobo”, a moderator on the website, users can post pictures --including child pornography -- on the website anonymously.
He told Sun.Star that he and three other moderators delete illegal material as soon as they see them. But admitted they cannot patrol the website all day because PinoyChan is only a hobby.
“It seems to be the work of individuals based abroad. They posted child pornography at times when moderators aren't monitoring the site,” he said.
PinoyChan is patterned after 4Chan, a popular US imageboard that allows anonymous posting.
Many Internet memes started in 4Chan, including the LOLCAT trend that featured pictures of cats accompanied by humorous slogans.
According to website moderators, traffic to PinoyChan rose from 250 visits a day in March 2010 to 10,400 a day in December of the same year. (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)