Adult video site
Pornhub is encouraging Russians to flaunt a nationwide ban by offering
14 days of free premium access.
State media watchdog Roskomnadzor blacklisted the site on Sept. 13 along with the YouPorn adult site. A Russian court will rule at a later date whether the ban will remain in place.
The company's premium site, which uses a separate URL, escaped the ban as a fully-paid service.
Russian users also used a number of mirror sites to access Pornhub content, although many of these were mercilessly hunted down by the state watchdog.
It is not the first time that the company has tried to entice Russians with high-definition pornography: the firm first tried to offer state censors a free premium account in return for unblocking the site.
Roskomnadzor turned down the offer, claiming that they were “not in the market.”
Russia first
blocked the Russian page of the Pornhub site last year, when a a court in
the southern city of Krasnodar ruled that the website violated child
protection laws.
Roughly an hour after announcing the promotion, Pornhub's promotion stopped functioning. On Vkontakte, the website notified users that it was experiencing technical difficulties, possibly because the offer generated more interest than expected.