Ukrainian users of adult content giant PornHub are increasingly searching for Russian-tagged pornography, according to the website’s yearly analysis.
Pornhub revealed a breakdown of user habits around the world, based on their search terms, in its 2024 Year in Review, published last week.
“The term ‘Russian porn’ had a surge of +12 spots, making it the 3rd most searched term of the year” in Ukraine, according to the website’s data.
“Even at a time when the countries are at war with one another, the Ukrainian people are still curious what their neighbors are doing sexually,” the statement said.
The most-searched for term in Ukraine in 2024 was “hentai” – pornography drawn or animated in Japanese style.
While the production, distribution and sale of pornography has been illegal in Ukraine since 2009, the law is largely not enforced.
Despite the official ban, PornHub is highly popular in Ukraine, receiving tens of millions of visits monthly.
In December last year, Kiev fined the adult website $5,543 for tax evasion. Ukrainian lawmakers said at the time that by avoiding taxes, PornHub was failing to support the country’s armed forces. In contrast, website OnlyFans paid Kiev $944,000 in taxes in 2023, officials said.
According to web data, PornHub is the number one most visited adult domain in the country, by a large margin.