back to article Russian regulator bans PornHub for its ‘illegal pornography’

Russia's telecommunications "supervisor" Roskomnadzor has banished Canadian smut-floggers PornHub from the nation's networks. The decision to block 11 pornographic websites was made following a district court ruling in Krylovskogo, in the Crimea-bordering Krasnodar region, according to a Roskomnadzor press release. Among the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've been told <ahem> that the website in question has several partner/affiliate/sister websites (probably with the same content), I wonder if they're also on ze list?

  2. Richard Wharram

    Competition

    It's probably crowding out the domestic Slavicsmut distributors.

  3. alain williams Silver badge

    There is prob a gay video

    Not something that Putin likes

    1. Irongut

      Re: There is prob a gay video

      I disagree. Based on his holiday snaps I think Putin likes that kind of video more than he would like to admit.

      1. John 156
        Childcatcher

        Re: There is prob a gay video

        Macho men like girlies; girly men behave like girlies; here is an well-research, impartial comparison between Putin and Obama in the real man stakes :

        http://www.tomatobubble.com/putin_obama.html

        1. Richard 22
          WTF?

          Re: There is prob a gay video

          That Putin / Obama comparison is way funnier than they realise. It took me some time to work out that they seem to be deadly serious.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: There is prob a gay video

            > It took me some time to work out that they seem to be deadly serious.

            With good satire it's hard to tell.

            The caption "Putin controls his dog without a leash. Look at his eyes. That dog KNOWS who is the master!" is accompanying a picture of Putin and Tony Blair...

        2. Korgarath

          Re: There is prob a gay video

          Putin: tries far too hard to look manly, hates gays, probably banning pornhub for those videos.

          Obama: comfortable with his metro-sexuality, might look a bit that way but almost definitely isn't.

          If I had to pick one of them for out for being in the closet, it would certainly be Putin.

          1. wayne 8

            Re: There is prob a gay video

            Obama's closet door is wide open.

      2. TitterYeNot

        Re: There is prob a gay video

        "Based on his holiday snaps I think Putin likes that kind of video more than he would like to admit"

        Yes, I've absolutely no idea why, but Putin going on about the evils of homosexuality always reminds me of someone senior in the Irish catholic church going on about what a grievous sin paedophilia is.

        Reminds me of a word, oh what is it? It's on the tip of my tongue, rhymes with patent...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: There is prob a gay video

          "[...] but Putin going on about the evils of homosexuality always reminds me of someone senior in the Irish catholic church [...]"

          Cardinal Keith O'Brien in Scotland was well reported for his vitriolic sermons against gays. His subsequent downfall torpedoed the various allied Churches' campaign against same-sex marriage. It wasn't his being gay that was the problem for the general public - but the apparent hypocrisy.

          I like to think that he was playing a long game. In order to become a Cardinal he had to forget his previously liberal public utterances and set himself up as a staunch conservative in the Vatican mould. It was possible he could have become Pope - and then shown his true colours in a liberal encyclical recognising artificial contraception, divorce, and same-sex love as human rights.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: There is prob a gay video

            Err, Cardinal O'Brien's downfall was more related to his use of his elevated position to coerce younger priests into relationships.

            It's fantasy to suggest he would somehow have pivoted into being some sort of liberal hippie Pope permitting same-sex marriage, divorce, and contraception !

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: There is prob a gay video

              "It's fantasy to suggest he would somehow have pivoted into being some sort of liberal hippie Pope permitting same-sex marriage, divorce, and contraception !"

              He was apparently quite liberal before he started to climb the greasy pole of Vatican intrigue. A politician never reveals their true intentions until they have the levers of power firmly in their grasp. That intention can be liberal or otherwise.

              No one expected the USSR to be dismantled by the actions of a good member of the Party when he became President - but that is what Mikhail Gorbachev did. The same shock factor when P W Botha dismantled Apartheid in South Africa. In England no one would have predicted a Tory Prime Minister introducing same-sex marriage.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: There is prob a gay video

            Not very likely is it?

        2. casaloco

          Re: There is prob a gay video

          He goes on about "the evils of homosexuality" because it wins him votes. I really doubt he actually cares.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "The evils of homosexuality"

            <<He goes on about "the evils of homosexuality" because it wins him votes. I really doubt he actually cares.>>

            I'm pretty sure that Putin is on record reminding commentators that homosexuals are protected under the anti-discrimination sections of the Russian constitution just like in any other country. Transgendered people are also protected and are able to change sex medically if they wish and can afford it.

            What is illegal in Russia is promoting non-traditional sexuality to minors, much like in Britain up to the early 1980s if I'm not mistaken. A little old-fashioned, perhaps, but not at all repressive. It certainly mirrors the will of the majority. Unfortunately, this majority can be hostile to open displays of homosexuality, and you can be sure that if an official suddenly decided to enlighten them with rainbows, they would make very short work of him or her electorally.

            Please try to stick a little closer to the truth and lay off Russia bashing as a sport. It is no more civilised than bashing homosexuals.

            1. x 7

              Re: "The evils of homosexuality"

              " lay off Russia bashing as a sport"

              Why? Its one of our traditional games

    2. Bob Wheeler

      Re: There is prob a gay video

      Yak porn anyone?

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: There is prob a gay video

        Yak porn anyone?

        For those that are bi-son curious?

        Alpaca bag and get out of here.

        1. Mpeler
          Paris Hilton

          Re: There is prob a gay video

          Once you go yak, you'll never go back...

          You only yurt the one you love?

          They would've been better to have been obscene and not herd...

    3. Fibbles

      Re: There is prob a gay video

      Russia's national animal is the bear.

      Searching for bears on pornography websites is unlikely to yield results involving ursidae. Maybe Putin found out the hard* way?

      *fnarr fnarr

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon
        Coat

        Re: There is prob a gay video

        "Searching for bears on pornography websites"

        *must....resist.....

      2. TimeMaster T
        Coat

        Re: There is prob a gay video

        If he didn't find what he was looking for I doubt it was very hard at all.

        alright, alright, I'll leave quietly.

  4. Slacker@work
    Coat

    Maybe they prefer...

    RedTube

    (google it if you are unaware of the site but it is most definitely NSFW) ;)

    1. phil dude
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Maybe they prefer...

      Careful waving that about, you'll have someones eye out...

      P.

  5. chivo243 Silver badge
    Devil

    Ouch

    Now they have to do with only Russian bride porn? Ouch!

  6. Graham Marsden
    Holmes

    "Register staff deem site OK"

    But then they went back just to check that nothing had changed since they left...

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: "Register staff deem site OK"

      Wasn't a variation of that joke in "Not the Nine O'clock News" in the 80s. The joke being about who signed the BBFC certificates.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Putin's view of the world

    Is still in the process of deployment. He really should borrow the Great Firewall of China's design

    to speed it up.

  8. Zmodem

    russia`s biggest export and wants the tax for more guns

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    porn-lovers of the world - unite!

    as long as the porn content comes OUT of Russia, we, the freeloaders and freeworlders should be allright :)

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sleight of hand

    Some regimes are always publicising that they crack down on deviant sexual things. It makes it easier for them to jail opposition supporters on trumped up charges of that nature. They think it makes them look clean and moral to their public and the rest of the world.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VK is smut central

    VK.com, sometimes called Russia's Facebook, is full of porn. Or so I've heard.

  12. Elmer Phud

    Only images of bare-chested strong, manly types riding horses and fishing and hunting allowed.

    Putin rules with a rod of iron -- oooh errr missus

    1. x 7

      "Only images of bare-chested strong, manly types riding bareback allowed"

      There, fixed it for you

  13. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    I find that surprising...

    Seeing as that site has an awful lot of homemade Russian made content on it - thereby advertising the benefit of your standard nubile Russian teen or mail-order bride to a wider audience...

    ...or so I'm told *cough* *cough*

    1. x 7

      Re: I find that surprising...

      a large amount of the underage porn on the web is Russian, usually offered as "naturist" family shots

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I find that surprising...

        "[...] usually offered as "naturist" family shots"

        Which is probably what they were. Many countries in the Eastern Bloc had a naturist streak (no pun intended).

        In East Germany it was prized as a freedom that the authorities didn't bother to control. There is a group of statues now overlooking the Spree in Berlin that is effectively a monument to that freedom - Wilfried Fitzenreiter's "Drei Mädchen und ein Knabe" (Three girls and a boy) made in 1979.

        West Germany had the same heritage of the FKK movement from the 1920s - but are apparently more pedantic about having rules that enforce nudity once you cross the line in the sand.

        There is a difference between being naturally naked and pictures intended to tiitillate. It often seems that some people see titillation in just about anything - and they are usually the ones wanting to ban everything.

        1. x 7

          Re: I find that surprising...

          "Which is probably what they were."

          no.....they're not........

  14. Craigness

    #RussianFappersWelcome

    We're not much better - some of the stuff on that site may not be created nor viewed in the UK. Refugees should probably not head for Sweden either.

    1. Zmodem

      Re: #RussianFappersWelcome

      british porn in rubbish, most gals are liverpool lasses with stomach`s hanging down to their knees, with fake titties

  15. Cynic_999

    But would Russia ...

    .. block images of the "Virgin Killers" album cover like the UK authorities tried to do?

    1. Richard Wharram

      Re: But would Russia ...

      To be fair, what the fuck were The Scorpions thinking??

      1. wayne 8

        Re: But would Russia ...

        Blind Faith 1969.

  16. 45RPM Silver badge

    Truth is, you don't have a worthwhile website until you've been banned by Russia. It's a recommendation dontchaknow. Personally, I haven't visited Pornhub - but you can be sure that I'll be taking this Russian plaudit most seriously.

  17. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    It doesn't matter who the enemy is…

    just as long as there is one.

    The Kremlin's recent moves (including the seemingly wanton destruction of cheese at the border) may seem bizarre to us but it's part of an orchestrated campaign within Russia to stir up patriotic sentiment as the economy slides. As such anything Russian is good and anything Western is bad.

    Now if only the Russians were serious about dealing with the exploitation that accompanies a great deal of porn. Or the people traffickers smuggling young women within and out of Russia into European brothels.

  18. x 7

    The story I heard from a very reliable source is that Putin was looking for somewhere to improve his riding skills, Googled "Russian bareback" and was annoyed when he spotted a couple of his Kremlin bodyguards exhibiting their prowess and size on PornHub.

    Also I heard that RedTube is next on the ban list, after Putin viewed it while looking for a map of the Moscow underground network.

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