Mastercard, Visa cut Pornhub ties

Mastercard and Visa have dumped Pornhub following an exposé that claims the site was infested with videos of rape and child sex abuse.

Mastercard confirmed “the presence of illegal material” on Pornhub’s Web site following the publication of a report by The NewYork Times, which reported that the smut site hosted videos of rape scenes, revenge porn and other footage taken without the knowledge or consent of participants.

“Our investigation over the past several days has confirmed violations of our standards prohibiting unlawful content on their site,” Mastercard said in a statement. “As a result, and in accordance with our policies, we instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance.”

Some of the videos described in op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof’s columnincluded recordings of assaults on unconscious womenand girls.

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

In its biggest change, Pornhub will allow only verified users to upload videos to the site.

“These actions are exceptionally disappointing, as they come just two days after Pornhub instituted the most far-reaching safeguards in usergenerated platform history,” the smut site said of Mastercard’s and Visa’s moves. Pornhub has called claims that it allows child-sexual-abuse material “irresponsible and flagrantly untrue.”