Pornhub: MasterCard, Visa stop payments to porn site amid child abuse scrutiny

The credit card companies will stop processing payments to Pornhub as it faces increasing scrutiny over the content it hosts.

MasterCard and Visa have announced they will suspend payments to Pornhub as the site comes under scrutiny for what it allows on its platform.

Earlier this week news.com.au exclusively reported the horrific daily searches of victims who are forced to look for videos of their own abuse in the hope of getting it removed from Pornhub.

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A banner bearing the Pornhub logo. Picture: Ethan Miller / Getty

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MasterCard and Visa said they’d look into their financial links to the site’s parent company MindGeek, which owns a network of porn sites that also includes YouPorn and Redtube, after The New York Times published an op-ed with disturbing details of missing children appearing in exploitative videos on the site.

On Thursday, MasterCard and Visa stopped processing payments on Pornhub, according to Reuters.

Pornhub is known for its cheeky billboards.

“Our investigation over the past several days has confirmed violations of our standards prohibiting unlawful content on their site,” MasterCard said in a statement reported by the New York Post.

“As a result, and in accordance with our policies, we instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance. In addition, we continue to investigate potential illegal content on other websites to take the appropriate action.”

Visa, in its statement, said it was “instructing the financial institutions who serve [Pornhub owner] MindGeek to suspend processing of payments through the Visa network.”

MasterCard said it won’t be coming back after its own investigation confirmed illegal content was being hosted on the site, while Visa said it was suspending payments while it conducts its own investigation.

PayPal prevented the site’s visitors using its payment platform last year.

The NYT’s investigation resulted in changes to Pornhubs policies on Tuesday, with the site pledging to crack down on illegal content. Pornhub said it will impose new restrictions on who can upload videos and a hire new squad of content moderators that will seek out potentially illegal material.

In its biggest change, Pornhub will only allow verified users to upload videos to the site. That privilege is currently restricted to Pornhub’s content partners and members of its “Model Program,” which requires performers to verify their identities by uploading a photo of themselves.

“These actions are exceptionally disappointing, as they come just two days after Pornhub instituted the most far-reaching safeguards in user-generated platform history,” the site said of MasterCard and Visa’s moves.

“This news is crushing for the hundreds of thousands of models who rely on our platform for their livelihoods.”

– with New York Post

Originally published as Pornhub: MasterCard, Visa stop payments to porn site amid child abuse scrutiny