Abuse claims: Visa and Mastercard are investigating ties with Pornhub amid claims it shows videos of child abuse and rape
Visa and Mastercard are investigating ties with Pornhub amid claims that the adult entertainment site shows videos of child abuse and rape.
A New York Times column, published on Friday, claimed the porn site was publishing videos of rape scenes, underage sex and revenge porn – where private explicit images and videos are made public without the participant’s consent in order to hurt or humiliate them.
The columnist, Nicholas Kristof, said: ‘The issue is not pornography but rape. Let’s agree that promoting assaults on children or on anyone without consent is unconscionable.’
Pornhub strongly denied the claims, saying that any suggestion it allowed images of child sexual abuse was ‘irresponsible and flagrantly untrue’.
But Mastercard has said it is investigating the allegations with the bank of Pornhub’s parent company, Mindgeek.
Mastercard added: ‘If the claims are substantiated, we will take immediate action.’
Visa said it was engaging directly with Mindgeek while ‘actively engaging with the relevant financial institutions to investigate’.
Pornhub, the world’s biggest porn site and the tenth most visited site in the world, has been under pressure for years over claims it allows users to post ‘revenge-porn’ and rape videos.
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