Porn ban lifted in India: Free premium access granted to help 'flatten the curve'

In an apparent bid to promote home isolation, the ban on porn sites in India was partially lifted as the 21-day coronavirus lockdown came into effect on Wednesday, March 25. Several adult websites, which were not accessible earlier, were opening with a few of them even offering free premium access to promote home isolation in the times of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Pornhub offers free premium access to promote home isolation

Although there was no official confirmation, several porn websites were opening. Two leading adult sites pornhub.com and xvideos.com were not accessible but pornhub.org, along with several others were opening. Pornhub even launched its new "StayHomeHub" campaign and was offering a free premium subscription to "help flatten the curve".

Pornhub has already been offering free access to Pornhub Premium in Italy, France and Spain, all under coronavirus lockdown. Following lockdowns in several other countries, including India, the US, and the UK, users around the world can enjoy the free premium access for the month, which usually costs USD 9.9 a month and offers ad-free HD videos.

"Since this is a situation that continues to impact us all, we've decided to play our part in encouraging everyone to stay home and are launching Free Premium worldwide until April 23," Pornhub said in a blog post on Tuesday.

India enters complete lockdown

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday had announced a nation-wide lockdown to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, officially known as SARS-COV-2. The lockdown will remain in effect for a period of 21 days and during this time period, all but essential services will remain shut.

While appealing to the nation to stay indoors to avoid the threat of COVID-19, PM Modi assured citizens that the central and the state governments are working round the clock to ensure the smooth supply of all the necessary items across the country.

"In order to protect the country, and each of its citizens, from midnight tonight, a full ban is being imposed on people from stepping out of their homes. All the States in the country, all the Union Territories, each district, each municipality, each village, each locality is being put under lockdown," the PM said in his address on Tuesday.