Thailand arrests Chinese nationals for running illegal porn studio
- Police said they arrested a Chinese director, a Chinese interpreter, and two performers in the middle of a shoot in Chonburi province
- The studio, believed to be producing films for Chinese platforms, came to light after officers seized a computer from a Chinese man
Officers searched the venue hidden in a villa in Chonburi province last Friday, after a computer was seized from a Chinese man previously arrested for violating the Computer Crimes Act – which has a five-year maximum jail penalty.
Forensic analysis of the computer, which the man bought by providing false information, revealed details about a group involved in filming pornographic movies in Pattaya and Bangkok.
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Police said the group was in the middle of a shoot when officers swooped in. The suspects included a Chinese director, a Chinese interpreter, and two performers, a man and woman. They were charged with jointly producing pornographic material, and the filming equipment was impounded.
The nationalities of the actors were not made public, but the woman said she was paid 20,000 baht (US$560) and the man got 6,000 baht (US$170) a day.
Police added that the examination of the computer also uncovered evidence that the group had advertised for male and female Thai porn actors to take part in movies that would be streamed on Chinese platforms.
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Pornography is illegal under Thailand’s cybercrime law. Last year, a teenage OnlyFans creator and her boyfriend were arrested for disseminating sexually-explicit content on the platform after a video of them having sex at a Bangkok hotel went viral.
In 2020, the government banned Pornhub and more than 100 other websites showing explicit content, prompting social media anger over censorship.
The kingdom, which has a globally-known sex industry, was among the top 20 countries by daily traffic for Pornhub in 2019. According to the streaming website, users in Thailand spent more time on the platform – 11 minutes and 21 seconds – in 2019 than those elsewhere in the world.
