Democrat Andrew Yang, the businessman staging a longshot campaign for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, is best know for his proposal to pay each American over the age of 18 years old $1,000 per month, no questions asked—a policy known as “Universal Basic Income,” though Yang refers to it as “The Freedom Dividend.”
But last Friday, Yang veered into a new policy area, taking to his Twitter account to become the first in the field of Democratic candidates to propose restricting access to porn.
“As a parent of young kids I believe rampant access to pornography is a real problem,” the 44-year-old Yang wrote. “We need to empower families to be able to moderate what our kids see and when.”
Yang has not elaborated on the tweet, or stated how, specifically, he proposes to “empower families” to restrict access to porn. Numerous “parental control” software applications have been available for years, each of which allow parents to restrict access to certain sites on computers and smartphones used by kids.
As AVN.com reported, one new app even allows parents to block their kids from taking or receiving nude photos of themselves and others.
The reaction to Yang’s tweet appeared largely negative, though a tweet posted from the official account of NoFap—a movement that, as AVN.com reported, claims quitting masturbation can cure a variety of physical ailments—greeted Yang’s tweet with enthusiasm.
“It's great to see a presidential candidate brave enough to say this publicly!” the NoFap tweet said. “Porn isn't a partisan issue.”
Yang even received support from former porn performer Mia Rose, who wrote on Twitter, “I used to make adult movies and 100% agree with this. Yang isn’t trying to take porn away. He is saying families need to be able to moderate. This isn’t news. Calm down folks.”
But writer Noah Berlatsky had a more typical response, tweeting, “Yeah, this is the problem we need to address right now, you ridiculous dilettante.”
While no other Democratic candidates have spoken out one way or another on the issue of access to porn, six have stated their position in favor of decriminalizing sex work, as AVN.com reported.
But Yang has not yet made his position on sex work decriminalization clear, according to a Vice.com survey of the candidates.
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