Pornhub said on Tuesday it has banned users’ ability to download videos and would allow only certain partner accounts to upload content, following a New York Times column which said many videos posted on the adult website depicted sexual assault of children.
Pornhub attracts 3.5 billion visits a month, more than Netflix, Yahoo or Amazon. Pornhub rakes in money from almost three billion ad impressions a day. One ranking lists Pornhub as the 10th-most-visited website in the world.
The sex videos site, which has denied the allegations made in the column, said the new policies would be effective immediately and a new verification process would be implemented in the new year for users to upload videos.
Payments provider Mastercard said on Sunday it and the bank of Pornhub parent company MindGeek were investigating the allegations.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman called on Mastercard and Visa to temporarily withhold payments to Pornhub following publication of the newspaper column, which described some videos on the site as recordings of assaults on unconscious women and girls.
Pornhub said it also was expanding its content moderation measures and will release a transparency report next year. The website said certain verified paid downloads would be exempt from the ban.
Facebook removed 12.4 million images related to child exploitation in a three-month period this year.
Twitter closed 264,000 accounts in six months last year for engaging in sexual exploitation of children.
By contrast, Pornhub notes that the Internet Watch Foundation, an England-based nonprofit that combats child sexual abuse imagery, reported only 118 instances of child sexual abuse imagery on its site over almost three years.
“Eliminating illegal content is an ongoing battle for every modern content platform, and we are committed to remaining at the forefront,” Pornhub said in its statement.
