A fresh order last night to block sex video site Pornhub was driven by tremendous complaints and unrelated to any embarrassing clips of any particularly powerful figures, the nation’s top IT official said today.
Though the page remained widely available as of noon Tuesday, IT minister Puttipong Punnakanta said porn is still illegal, so they simply forwarded all the complaints and evidence to the court to support an injunction, which went out last night to all internet service providers.
It listed nearly 200 URLs to be made inaccessible from within Thailand. Pornhub had previously been blocked by Thailand’s half-hearted and easily circumventable measures, an effort that seemed all but abandoned in recent years.
“Everyone must understand that it isn’t legal under Thai law, and as a law enforcer, I have to strictly follow the law,” Puttipong said. “In the past, we may not have covered it completely, so there is still some access to the website. We understand [that there are many subscribers to the website], but we had to do it.”
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Although the order specifically referenced Pornhub, it did not mention identify any of the other 190 URLs to be blocked. Puttipong said without giving details most of the complaints came from parents and adults concerned about the youth.
The move wasn’t well-received online.
“This country violates even the right to masturbate!” Rawat Chankot wrote on Facebook. “It’s time we march to masturbate in front of the Government House!”
A Pornhub-themed protest has been called by the pro-democracy movement for 4pm outside the Digital Economy and Society Ministry’s offices at the Government Complex in Chaeng Wattana.
The minister said he would not back down despite the anger, saying “many people” had told him he should have done it a long time ago. He said the law doesn’t violate any rights.
Asked if the cause of the ban was related to sensitive clips of an important and legally protected figure on the site, Puttipong said it was not.
“The website is illegal,” he said. “The ministry will act on more porn and gambling websites to get them blocked.”
In May, the frothy fury of Pornhub fans forced internet provider True Online to back off plans to block the site.
Last month, the ministry asked internet providers to block access to an encrypted chat app Telegram (which is still accessible until now) and the entire Change.org online petition domain in response to some controversial petitions relating to the monarchy.
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