Pornhub crisis: Mastercard and Visa cut ties with site due to illicit content
Pornhub's woes continue to pile on after Mastercard and Visa decided to stop processing payments for the pornographic platform due to unlawful content.
The development follows Pornhub’s recent move to limit video uploads and disable downloads due to reports of hosting illegal videos, such as non-consensual footages involving minors.
Bloomberg reported that Mastercard will not allow its cards to be used on the platform after a review uncovered unlawful content.
Visa for its part decided to suspend its processing of payments while it is still investigating the matter.
“Our investigation over the past several days has confirmed violations of our standards prohibiting unlawful content on their site,” Mastercard said in a statement. “We instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance.”
The crackdown on Pornhub came after an opinion piece on the New York Times said the website distributed videos of child abuse and non-consensual interactions.
The pornographic platform expressed dismay at the decision of Visa and Mastercard.
“This news is crushing for the hundreds of thousands of models who rely on our platform for their livelihoods,” Pornhub said.