BANGKOK — Beleaguered by street protests and calls for resignation, the current ruling party in Thailand — spawned from the military junta which ruled the country after a 2014 coup — has reportedly announced it is cracking down on adult content and banning access to Pornhub, one of the nation’s most-visited sites.
Today, closure orders signed by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, and citing the Computer Crime Act of 2007, have appeared on “pornhub.com” when accessed from Thailand.
According to a report published today by expat news publication Thai Examiner, “Thailand has closed the worldwide sex site Pornhub for violating the country’s Computer Crime Act."
The report cites a "directive issued to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society last week by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and comes after a Thai court in mid-October warned the government that it may not close mass media news outlets which are protected under provisions of the constitution,” explained the Thai Examiner.
Browsers from Thailand can still presumably access Pornhub through a VPN.
A Thai 'War on Porn'
The Pornhub closure, the Thai Examiner reported, “comes amid stronger calls from conservatives in Thailand for action by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society against websites and social networks which they claim are undermining Thailand’s traditional culture and values.”
For the last few weeks, the New York Times reported today, “student-led protesters across Thailand have taken to the streets every few days, calling for a new constitution with authority over the monarchy, an end to the persecution of the political opposition and the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the retired general who led the most recent military coup, in 2014.”
Thailand has consistently been a top-ranked country for Pornhub. The latest major data survey issued by the company, for 2019, stated that “searches for ‘Thai’ remain the number-one search in Thailand, while ‘Japanese’ moved up four positions to become the number-two search. Thai visitors also tend to search for other Asian content with top terms including ‘Korean’ and ‘Chinese’ which moved up 42 positions in 2019.”
“Spanish porn star Jordi El Niño (formerly 'El Niño Polla') was the most-viewed by Thai visitors, followed by Japanese porn star Aoi Sora and Rae Lil Black. When compared to the rest of the world, Thailand is 291% more likely to watch ‘Japanese’ videos, 245% more into ‘Korean’ and 138% more into ‘Uncensored Cartoon’ videos.”
Main Image: Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in military uniform. Photo: Thai Governement