Jail for man who moderated porn sites with sister's help
Tan Wee Quan James was moderating up to nine pornography websites at one point.
Tan Wee Quan James arrives at the State Courts on Dec 16, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
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SINGAPORE: A 37-year-old man was jailed for three weeks on Monday (Dec 16) for moderating nine pornography websites.
Tan Wee Quan James also admitted to instigating his sister to help him moderate one of the websites in exchange for S$60,000 (US$44,500) in allowance.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of taking part in a business of publicly exhibiting obscene objects and one charge of abetting the same.
Another seven similar charges were considered for sentencing.
The court heard that between 2010 and 2011, Tan got to know an individual named Adrian on an online forum.
In 2012, Adrian asked Tan to be his partner in running pornography websites that he was creating.
Tan agreed to be a moderator, which involved looking through the videos recently uploaded by users and deleting inappropriate ones, and tracking the number of viewers.
Tan started moderating the pornography websites in 2014. Over the years, Adrian created more websites and Tan also moderated them.
In order to carry out his duties, he was given the moderator username and password for these websites.
At one point, Tan was moderating nine such websites.
The websites charged viewers and advertisers fees, and Tan got a share of the profits as the moderator.
In 2020, Tan also approached his sister and asked her to help him moderate one of the sites when he was busy and unable to, in exchange for an allowance.
She accepted the offer and occasionally moderated the site from 2020 to Dec 15, 2022, receiving S$60,000 over the course of her involvement.
Tan continued to moderate the sites until Dec 15, 2022, when police officers, acting on intelligence, raided his residence.
The prosecutor asked for a short jail term for each charge, arguing for the need to "protect the young and/or psychologically disturbed from potential damage caused by obscene materials".
He said that increased exposure and addiction to online pornography were concerns of medical professionals and the government, and had been linked to a rise in sexual crime committed by youths.
The prosecutor also highlighted that Tan profited from his moderation of the websites, which had wide distribution.
Defence lawyer Riko Isaac of Amolat & Partners asked for a fine of no more than S$15,000 and sought to distinguish Tan's moderator role from that of an administrator.
Tan's responsibilities, which were to flag inappropriate content involving young children and animals, did not contribute to the financial growth of the company nor the marketing of the websites, the lawyer argued.
He also said that Tan – the sole breadwinner of his family who now works as a private-hire driver and freelance web administrator – was deeply remorseful and determined not to reoffend, and had severed ties with Adrian.
The punishment for taking part in a business of publicly exhibiting obscene objects is a jail term of up to three months, a fine or both.
