Is Porn Banned in South East Asia? Know Your Laws

Since the internet was invented, it’s been used for porn. It’s a boom international business, but it’s not universally accessible. Whether you want to watch porn as you travel around South East Asia or want to keep your SinParty feed full with juicy pictures, you need to know, is porn banned in South East Asia?

It’s not a homogenous region, so it’s not a “yes” or “no”. With a vast array of cultures, religions, and beliefs, attitudes towards porn in SE Asia are varied. When looking at the questions of banned porn in SE Asia, we’re going to look at:

• Indonesia
• The Philippines
• Thailand
• Vietnam
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Cambodia
• Myanmar
• Laos

And give you the rundown of their porn laws.

For a quick guide to the state of porn access across the globe, check out this map.

You’re not the first person to experience troubles watching porn across the globe, here’s what other jet-setters do to watch porn around the world.

Is porn illegal in Indonesia?

Although a majority Muslim country, Indonesia prides itself on religious diversity. None of those religions are open to porn, though. The country is pretty socially conservative and porn is outright banned.

With new rules that came into play in 2018, the government isn’t taking porn lying down. The Indonesian government invested US$15 million into some new tech that would crawl the internet looking for porn.

Sadly, rather than finding the best to share with their buddies, the results get given to internet service providers (ISPs) who are forced to block sites. There’s also a national Safe Search, which can’t be turned off on any browser.

If you’re caught:

• Making
• Watching
• Downloading
• Streaming

Porn, you’re going to be in trouble. For having it on your computer, you’re paying a fine of up to US$136k and face up to four years in prison. For making porn in Indonesia, the penalty is up to 15 years in prison.

Can I watch porn in the Philippines?

The Philippines in the South East Asian porn capital. More people view porn here, and for longer, than anywhere else in the region. Doesn’t mean it’s legal, though.

Back in 1992 the Philippines government introduced a ban on pornography. Porn is defined as anything that “advocate[s] human immorality, obscenity, and indecency”. Ostensibly, the law is in place to protect children from exploitation – and we’re all for protecting children from abuse.

It does mean that ISPs in the country periodically get told to block access to porn sites. Must be frustrating for the avid porn fans across the nation.

What are the porn laws in Thailand?

Sexual liberation is one of the things Thailand is famous for. It’s a land of contradictions – with the highest number of transgender surgeries performed each year, yet porn in banned. There are some other curious sex laws in Thailand that’ll leave you questioning enforcement policies.

Porn got banned by the Computer Crimes Act 2007. The law gives the government to ban any sites that break the law and to shut them down if they’re based in the country. To give you the nitty gritty, porn is covered by offences related to using a computer to transmit illegal content.

You might not remember the law’s name – but know what it means. If caught accessing or storing porn you could face up to 20 years in prison. You’ve heard of the Bangkok Hilton, right?

Is porn banned in Vietnam?

Vietnam resoundingly beat the US back in the 1970s and it’s gone on to ban one of its biggest exports – porn. It can feel like anything goes in Vietnam, with a little coffee money in hand, but you still need to know when you’re doing something wrong and when to grease palms.

 Back in 2001, a law was enacted by the one-party state that said the internet couldn’t be used for:

• Anything that goes against the government
• Content that defames Vietnamese leaders and heroes
• Stuff that distorts the history of Vietnam
• Pornography
• Sex materials

Seems a little strange to lump porn on to the list, but still…

If that wasn’t clear enough, Article 326 of the Criminal Code 2015 goes into quite some detail on the level of fines and prison sentences depending on how much porn you’re caught with.

The government regularly orders ISPs to block porn websites too, along with the BBC so you’ve clearly got high-brow tastes. What devices and how you connect to the internet will decide on what you can access of the illicit content you can find online.

Is pornography allowed in Malaysia?

Malaysia is a Muslim country, with Sharia law for anyone who’s officially Muslim on their ID card. It’s not all that surprising when you find out that, you guess it, porn is illegal in Malaysia.

To decipher a whole load of legal jargon, you can’t watch, own, make, or sell porn in Malaysia. It’s covered in Section 292 of the Penal Code, if you’re ever in Kuala Lumpur and feel the need to impress. What’s less impressive are the fines with one or both of:

• Up to five years in prison
• The equivalent of roughly US$12k in fines

 In a similar vein to Indonesia, the government actively monitors the internet for porn sites. There’s a whole government unit dedicated to checking out sexy and rude sites which they then instruct ISPs to block access to.

What are Singapore’s porn laws?

Finally, we get to the good news on our tour of porn laws in South East Asia. Kind of. If you want to watch or stream pornography online – go for it. There’s nothing stopping you and the second fastest  internet in the world to take advantage of.

It’s not all sweatiness and live sex shows; there are some restrictions on porn in Singapore. There’s a couple of laws that get you unstuck if you want to either own or make pornography in the city state.

Under the Undesirable Publications Act and the Films Act, you can own or distribute porn, nor make it. Even if it’s for personal use – think your girlfriend sending you a video of her fingering herself – you could theoretically land in a lot of trouble.

In efforts to protect women from upskirting and revenge porn, there’s even some pretty tight rules on possessing intimate images of people. Even having clothes on won’t always negate prosecution.

How are the pornography laws in Cambodia?

Cambodia has a challenging relationship with pornography and child abuse. It’s not uncommon for kid to get their first taste of porn before they’re twelve years old. As far as we’re concerned here at SinParty, pornography is to be made and enjoyed by consenting adults within the laws of the country they’re in.

You can pick up porn on the streets easily and cheaply in Phnom Penh. Until recent legal changes, it was common to be shown in karaoke bars and cafes, too.

In 2008 the Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation banned the distribution of pornography, including child pornography. A report from the South East Asia Globe suggests that it’s not changed a whole lot on the ground and porn is still readily available.

Myanmar

The nation formerly known as Burma was under military dictatorship until relatively recently. That regime could and did ban what they wanted when they wanted, and with very little internet access during their rule, porn wasn’t much of an issue.

Even now, with some semblance of democracy, there are no specific laws banning pornography in Myanmar. Hurrah!

That’s not to say you won’t get into trouble if someone really wanted you to. There are laws about violating peace and security that could possibly be wrangled into a prosecution. Don’t go checking out the hot squirting video posted in a party you subscribe to whilst in a temple, and you should be ok.

Recent reports say that porn sites are getting banned. Apparently in the name of the emergency situation caused by the pandemic, Burmese people saw their porn access seriously curtailed. The government used Section 77 of the Telecommunications Law to order ISPs block not only some news sites, but your favourite porn peddlers, too.

What’s the porn law situation in Laos?

Laos is a one-party state that has decrees rather than laws, per se. The government decides they don’t like something and down comes the ban hammer. That’s exactly what happened to pornography back in 2014.

A decree was issued that banned access to porn. If people are caught trying to access porn online, they could lose their internet access.

When it comes to regular, old, vintage printed porn, if you get found with a publication you could wind up in prison for up to one year and face fines of around US$6-24 dollars. Almost seems worth it?

Bringing it together

When you travel, you’ll find that not everywhere has the same attitudes to pornography, nude photos, and even sex in general. It’s worth getting yourself clued up, whether it’s not being able to give head in the USA, or what you can and can’t in terms of porn in South East Asia.