Whatever one's personal views on pornography are, in the age of the internet, it's nearly impossible to not be exposed to it. Unless of course an entire nation decides that its illegal and tries to lockout access to it entirely. That's what's happened in Thailand as PornHub and other online porn sites have now been blocked, leading to a massive social media protest that even includes its own "Save Pornhub" hashtag.
According to Thailand's cybercrime laws, internet pornography as well as internet gambling are actually illegal, which is why the country recently blocked some 190 websites inside the nation's borders, preventing citizens from gaining access to them. As it turns out, Thailand loves its internet pornography, as the nation spent more time on PornHub than most, consistently ranking among the top 20 nations using the site. It's perhaps no surprise then that, as Reuters reports, a lot of people in the country are unhappy with this decision and are protesting the government's decision.
And while much of the protest of is taking place online, some have been willing to protest their loss of porn in public. A few dozen people reportedly protested outside Thailand's digital ministry holding signs calling for the return of PornHub. The fact that the signs specifically called for the return of this specific site shows just how much of the online market PornHub has taken. For many, PornHub and the entire concept of online porn and essentially the same.
And the people of Thailand are already looking for ways to circumvent the new law. There's apparently been a spike in searches in the country from people looking for VPN access, as that would potentially allow people to get access to the sites that are blocked in Thailand. Certainly, whatever the aim of the new law truly is, all it appears to be doing is getting people to come up with solutions to the problem. It's unlikely anybody is just going to accept the ban and move on.
The protest is probably also good news for PornHub. Since Thailand citizens were apparently major visitors, then it would seem likely that the loss of that country alone could have a significant impact to the site's bottom line when it comes to lost ad revenue and subscriptions.
It will be interesting to see where things go from here. Thailand has been dealing with its share of political protests prior to this ban, and some are wondering if the lack of PornHub could lead to even greater civil unrest. It's sort of bizarre and hilarious that a nation's government could find itself in trouble due to a lack of porn, but that seems to be at least theoretically possible here, as many who were not protesting before might find that this is enough of a reason to begin to do so.
