Millions of Pornhub Videos Removed After Child Abuse Content Found By Investigators
A total of 13 million videos on Pornhub have been pulled down by the company. An investigation has revealed a large number of the now-deleted content on the popular adult site featured underaged and sex-trafficked individuals. Following the findings of the investigation, Pornhub implemented immediate changes to their policy.
The widespread deletion of the majority of its content (Pornhub only has 4 million videos now), comes after an investigation by The New York Times claimed that Pornhub was hosting non-consensual and child abuse content.
This report led to financial services corporations like Mastercard and Visa to cut ties with the company, with Mastercard permanently blocking all use of its cards on the site whilst Visa suspended use of their cards pending the Pornhub investigation’s findings.
These moves from credit companies come at a time in which sex workers – who rely on sites like Pornhub during the pandemic for income – already are struggling.
Pornhub has described the moves by Mastercard and Visa as being “crushing” for all the people who rely on the platform for their livelihoods. Yet, the company has also stated that “the safety of our community is our top priority”, announcing changes to the way in which content is uploaded to the site.
In the past, any user could upload content to the site. Yet, now only verified users of Pornhub are permitted to do so. In order to become verified, Pornhub has explained that users must submit a photo of themselves holding a piece of paper with their username. In doing so, verified users are then able to be eligible for monetisation of their content.
“This means every piece of Pornhub content is from verified uploaders, a requirement that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter have yet to institute,” the company have said regarding the changes,
These latest developments come amid calls for further policing of Pornhub by activist groups such as Not Your Porn and anti-pornography groups the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (formerly Morality in Media) and Exodus Cry/TraffickingHub.
In their statement, Pornhub has claimed it is being targeted “not because of our policies and how we compare to our peers, but because we are an adult content platform”.
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