Parents can text the word “BLOCK” followed by their child’s cellphone number to SMSweb. The company then stops that number from accessing adult content for a year. On its website, the company claims to block 90 percent of the adult content providers in South Africa.
The cost of each SMS is 4 cents. SMSweb donates the money from each block to the Ma’Afrika Tikkun Children’s Welfare Fund.
The service does not block children from accessing the Internet on web-enabled phones, however. The technology just prevents content from being sent to the phone from known adult content providers. Because of this, the company cautions parents to monitor their child’s cellphone web-browsing activities. Additionally, the service will not block content sent via Bluetooth.
Sales of adult content for mobile phones is a billion dollar industry, according to Juniper Research. The U.S. accounts for only a fraction of that number since network carriers are hesitant to offer adult content, because of liability and public backlash.
Chatroom access is not blocked using SMSweb, but the company has plans to add this service in the future, SMSweb’s Managing Director Salah ElBaba said.