Popular Porn Sites Blocked In Philippines

Web users in the Philippines interested in a little virtual ‘me-time’ have found that some of the world’s most popular pornography websites have been blocked by ISPs.

According to the BBC, customers of Sun Cellular, and Smart can no longer access online porn on either mobile devices or their computers.

Instead, users now land on a webpage informing them that the adult sites they are trying to access have been blocked because of a message saying the sites have been blocked because of anti-child-pornography laws.

‘This website has been ordered blocked under authority of the Philippine government pursuant to Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Law.’

The ban has come a mere 10 days after research showed Filipinos spent more time per visit on Pornhub.com than any other nation.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, speaking on behalf of President Duterte told journalists attending the inaugural Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Manila on Sunday that:

“These porn sites should really be banned because they are being used by paedophiles and other people who subscribe to child pornography sites. “We don’t want our youth and even the adults to be addicted to lewd videos shown in the internet.”

There does not however appear to be any factual based evidence, or suggestion that any of the blocked websites have in any way posted images of under-age children.

A spokesman for Pornhub told the UK Daily Mail Online:

“Non-consensual and child pornography is strictly prohibited on Pornhub. It’s disappointing that Pornhub was blocked as it will just drive people to use less vetted, riskier, smaller websites. We’re open to working with government officials to meet their standards in the Philippines.”

The online survey carried out by Pornhub itself found that on average, Filipinos spent an average of 12 minutes and 45 seconds on the adult website, per visit. In contrast the time per visit was  9 minutes and 40 seconds for UK users, 10 minutes and 15 seconds for US users, and 8 minutes and 20 seconds for users in India.