Giant billboard in the Philippines put on an accidental show: Porn

The mayor of the major financial hub in the Philippines said the billboard will remain closed pending the results of the probe.

MANILA: A giant digital billboard in Makati City in Manila accidentally showed a pornographic video on Tuesday afternoon leaving bystanders in frenzy. The video appeared for about half a minute on an electronic billboard at a busy intersection on the main road through the central business district of the sprawling capital, Manila.

An investigation has begun into how such an incident took place. The mayor of the major financial hub in the Philippines said she was investigating the case and the billboard will remain closed pending the results of the probe.

While Makati Mayor Abigail Binay immediately ordered the billboard shut down after the clip with a couple having sex was shown, pictures and videos of it captured by motorists on their mobile phones have been widely shared on social media. Witnesses were quoted as saying that it was ''hard to believe what they were seeing''. The recalled it as 'funny, and surprising at the same time'.

The Mayor has said that the investigation will include whether the billboard's owner, Philippine company Globaltronics, or its employees were responsible for the incident. The video began with a Windows notice box. The faces of both the man and the woman in the video were unrecognisable, as per reports.

It is also being said that the person manipulating the screen was using TeamViewer software, used to connect to a computer remotely, accidentally monitored the computer playing the porn.

Pornography is illegal in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, which also strictly regulates television and movie content. Adult website Pornhub said last year the Philippines ranked 13th in the world for daily visitors.

Earlier, BBC made a similar faux pas after the channel accidentally broadcast a ‘porn video’ on its News at Ten programme. While news caster Sophie Raworth was hosting the programme, an X-rated clip was mistakenly played on a screen placed right behind her.