Pornhub removes over 10 million videos from site
Pornographic site Pornhub has removed millions of videos from its platform after two major payment providers cut ties due to reports of widespread illegal content on the website.
The controversy first arose after an opinion piece from the New York Times reported that the site was infested with illicit content such as non-consensual videos involving minors.
“Call me a prude, but I don’t see why search engines, banks or credit card companies should bolster a company that monetizes sexual assaults on children or unconscious women,” wrote Nicholas Kristof. “If PayPal can suspend cooperation with Pornhub, so can American Express, Mastercard and Visa.”
Before the purge, records showed the site hosted around 14 million videos. Now there are only 2.9 million videos shown on the platform.
Mastercard and Visa then both announced they are investigating the matter, before saying shortly after that they will be suspending their service to the site, preventing their users from making a purchase.
After a major revenue source was suspended, Pornhub announced a round of housekeeping by reportedly cleaning up their platform.
“Last week, we enacted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history. We banned unverified uploaders from posting new content, eliminated downloads, and partnered with dozens of non-profit organizations, among other major policy changes,” Pornhub said in a statement.
“As part of our policy to ban unverified uploaders, we have now also suspended all previously uploaded content that was not created by content partners or members of the Model Program. 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 platform said.
Before the purge, records showed the site hosted around 14 million videos. Now there are only 2.9 million videos shown on the platform, with about 80% of the content before removed.
Though the platform is instituting changes, it still took exception to the controversy.
“It is clear that Pornhub is being targeted not because of our policies and how we compare to our peers, but because we are an adult content platform,” the platform said.
Pornhub said the groups reportedly “are the same forces that have spent 50 years demonizing Playboy, the National Endowment for the Arts, sex education, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and even the American Library Association. Today, it happens to be Pornhub.”
Besides the much diminished cash flow, Pornhub now also has to contend with litigation. Motherboard has reported that 40 girls have filed a lawsuit against Mindgeek, Pornhub’s parent company, for profiting off their videos and ruining their lives. The lawsuit is demanding $40 million in damages.