Pornhub Bans Unverified Videos, Attempting to Block Non-Consensual Content
Following a ‘New York Times’ feature on child and sexual abuse that had been prevalent on the site.
Earlier this week, the New York Times published an article accusing Pornhub for its lack of action against banning illegal and non-consensual content. With the website being much like YouTube for allowing anyone to upload videos, it had been called out for years with scenes of sex trafficking, rape and child abuse being readily available on the Internet. Now, Pornhub has announced to take actions, such as allowing verified uploads only, banning downloads and more.
The new features are scheduled to launch next year, but for now, all videos have been removed except for those from content partners and industry professionals that are a part of Pornhub’s Model Program. “In the new year, we will implement a verification process so that any user can upload content upon successful completion of identification protocol,” the company shared in a statement. From now on, viewers will be able to download paid videos from verified users only. The website has additionally established a “Red Team,” which is “dedicated solely to self-auditing the platform for potentially illegal material.”
The NY Times op-ed, written by Nicholas Kristof, discusses specific cases in which underage girls have had to live with non-consensual videos of them on the web. “I may never be able to get away from this. I may be 40 with eight kids, and people are still masturbating to my photos,” a victim of child and sex abuse shares in the article. After the piece was published, Visa and Mastercard announced that they are investigating their relationship with Pornhub and its parent company Mindgeek.
You can visit Pornhub’s corporate website to see the full statement.
