Thai netizens furious after access to popular porn website blocked
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) has come under fire among Thai netizens for blocking all access to the widely popular pornography website Pornhub on Tuesday.
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Pornhub has proved to be the most visited porn site in the world.
Based on statistics collected last year, Pornhub had garnered more than 42 billion visits worldwide, averaging at 115 million daily, while users searched for the website more than 39 billion times. The country with the highest daily traffic is the US, while Thailand comes in at 17.
Thai users have been found to spend 11.21 minutes on average at the site, longer than the 10.28 minutes global average, followed by the Philippines at 11.09 minutes, the Netherlands 10.38 minutes, the US 10.36 minutes and Canada 10.23 minutes.
Statistics also indicate that 65 per cent of Pornhub visitors in Thailand are men and 35 per cent women. However, this data does not categorise LGBTQ visitors.
Of the Thai users, 45 per cent are in the 25-34 age group, 20 per cent aged 18-24, 18 per cent aged 35-44, 8 per cent between 45 and 54, 6 per cent between 55 and 64 years, and only 3 per cent above the age of 65.
Moreover, 81 per cent of Thai users have accessed Pornhub via their smartphone, 14 per cent via computers or notebooks, and 5 per cent via tablets, while Japanese pornography has proved to be the most popular in Thailand and other countries in the region.
Apart from Thailand, Pornhub is also blocked in the Philippines, Pakistan and India.
MDES Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta said the decision to block the website in Thailand was done after the court’s okay, adding that most pornography websites are from foreign countries.
“Pornography may be legal in many countries but it is still illegal in Thailand, so it is necessary to block access to the website," he said.
