BANGKOK — Thailand’s Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta offered further explanations behind the ruling party’s ban of 190 adult content websites, including Pornhub, in language identical to that of well-funded, religiously inspired anti-porn crusading U.S. groups like Exodus Cry and NCOSE.
According to the Bangkok Post, Punnakanta “expanded on its reasons for blocking access to the adult video website Pornhub, saying it contains illegal content including child sex abuse and sexual exploitation.”
Punnakanta accused Pornhub of “hosting illegal material from hidden recordings to non-consensual pornography, as well as sexual abuse of children, which obliges the ministry to block it.”
He added his ministry is “looking into complaints against other porn websites and will block them, adding the authorities have taken similar action against illegal gambling websites.”
A well-funded, U.S. based campaign by groups like Exodus Cry and NCOSE has targeted Pornhub's content moderation. Critics have noted that these groups do not seem concerned with any other moderation issues, be it of large mainstream platforms like Facebook and YouTube, or of other adult tube sites besides Pornhub.
The Thai minister's allegations justifying the censorship measure follow that campaign's playbook and the local conservative Thai-language press has parroted Exodus Cry's biased sampling to drum up indignation against Pornhub specifically.
Censorship of Sexual Expression As Main Goal
Making clear that censorship of adult content and not concern about age verification is the drive behind the ban, effected this week, Punnakanta said that “setting a minimum age is one thing, but a lot of content uploaded on Pornhub was illegal and justified the site being blocked.”
The sudden crackdown on sexual expression follows weeks of protests against Thailand’s ruling party, which spawned from the military faction that took power after a 2014 coup.
Protesters on- and offline criticized the censorship measure against the adult websites. Opposition leader Thanyawat Kamolwongwat yesterday clarified that his Move Forward party “was not speaking in defense of Pornhub when it criticized the ministry's action,” the Bangkok Post reported. “He said the party was concerned about government restrictions on people's rights to access media, and protecting children from exposure to inappropriate content should be discussed separately.”
Main Image: Thailand’s Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta
