Jakarta. The Communication and Information Technology Ministry became the butt of jokes on social media after Indonesians – who have been playing cat and mouse with the ministry's strict internet censorship – found out about a verified account in the world's largest pornsite Pornhub bearing the ministry's logo, name and description. 

The ministry, the country's so-called "porn gatekeeper" tasked with blocking pornographic content on the internet, has denied having anything to do with the Pornhub account and has reported it to the National Police's cybercrime unit. 

"The Indonesian Communication and Information Technology Ministry has never created any account or content on Pornhub.com," ministry spokesman Ferdinandus Setu said in a statement on Thursday. 

"[The ministry] has contacted the manager of Pornhub to officially raise our objection about the use of the ministry's name and logo on the website," Ferdinandus said.

The ministry has blocked access to the Canadian porn website since 2017.

The 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law – Indonesia's draconian internet law – forbids any transmission of materials that have the potential to "violate decency." 

Ferdinandus said the ministry has blocked more than 1.5 million websites and social media accounts containing pornographic content by the end of last month. 

Needless to say, Indonesians have found ways to bypass the ministry's internet ban. Pornhub's "2019 Year in Review" report mentioned Indonesia as one of the countries with most searches in the "Japanese" category on its site.  

The ministry said Indonesians who distribute or transmit pornographic content on the internet or social media could face criminal charges under the ITE Law.

"Distributing or transmitting electronic information and/or documents containing indecent or pornographic content is a cybercrime according to the ITE Law, punishable by a six-year prison sentence and a fine of Rp1 billion [$72,000]," Ferdinandus said.