Russia bans Pornhub and YouPorn

Russia has blocked access to Porhub and YouPorn, two of the world's most popular pornography websites.

Pornhub, which had 21.2 billion visits globally in 2015, appeared on Wednesday on a list of websites banned by the Kremlin's media and Internet watchdog media watchdog Roskomnadzor, the Moscow Times reported.

The agency's duties include monitoring the internet and blocking sites deemed to have breached Russian law.

In a statement, it said that it was acting in accordance with a May 2016 local court decision, which ruled that the website broke laws banning the production of pornography, Meduza reported.

According to Pornhub data, Russian viewers make up the site's 11th largest audience. However, in recent years Russian lawmakers have passed a series of bills to police Russian cyberspace and allow authorities to block access to content without judicial consent.

Rozkomnadzor banned Pornhub's Russian page in 2015, when a court in the southern city of Krasnodar ruled that internet pornography contravened child protection laws and laws banning the distribution of pornography. Under Russian law although consumption of pornography is legal, its production is banned.

Following the 2015 ban, when one Russian Twitter user asked the watchdog "If you block Pornhub, could you offer an alternative?" Roskomnadzor replied from its official account "as an alternative, you could meet someone in real life."

In June, the agency briefly blocked access to Wikipedia, after a court ruled an article about hashish contained banned information.

In response to the latest ban, Pornhub quipped in a tweet, "if we give you a guys Pornhub Premium account, will you un ban Pornhub in Russia?"