Two major credit card companies have reportedly stopped letting users make payments on Pornhub using their cards following a New York Times investigation that suggested the site hosted illegal videos depicting the sexual exploitation and assault of children.
Mastercard spokesperson Seth Eisen said the use of their credit cards on Pornhub will no longer be allowed as of Thursday, December 10.
“Our investigation over the past several days has confirmed violations of our standards prohibiting unlawful content on their site,” he said.
Daily Hive has also reached out to Visa, but has not yet heard back.
Montreal-based Pornhub told Daily Hive in a statement that Mastercard and Visa’s decisions are “exceptionally disappointing,” saying they could crush performers and models who rely on the site for income.
Pornhub added users must now be verified to upload content to the site, which they say is a farther reaching safeguard than other platforms have in place.
It pointed to data from the Internet Watch Foundation suggesting Pornhub had 118 incidents of child sexual abuse material in the last three years compared to 84 million found on Facebook.
- See also:
Both Visa and Mastercard launched investigations into Pornhub following the New York Times story by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof.
He describes videos on Pornhub’s website of assaults of unconscious women and girls, including child sex abuse material (CSAM). Kristof says Pornhub allows videos to be downloaded directly from its server, allowing for content to be spread, reshared, and reuploaded after it’s been taken down.
Pornhub is owned by Montreal-based company MindGeek.
With files from Tyler Jadah
Follow Channels and Categories