Mastercard has announced that it is investigating allegations against Pornhub.com because of a New York Times report alleging that many videos posted on the adult website portraying child abuse.
The New York Times column, written by Nicholas Kristof, describes the videos on Pornhub as recordings of assaults on unconscious women and girls.
“The issue is not p*rnography but r**e. Let’s agree that promoting assaults on children or on anyone without consent is unconscionable,” Kristof wrote. New York Times published the column on Friday 4th December 2020.
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Pornhub in a statement has denied the allegations.
“Any assertion that we allow CSAM (child s****l abuse material) is irresponsible and flagrantly untrue,” Pornhub said in an emailed statement.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman had asked Mastercard and Visa to temporarily withhold payments to Pornhub. Ackman was speaking on the heels of the newspaper column.
Mastercard told Reuters that it is investigating the allegations with Pornhub’s parent MindGeek’s bank. “If the claims are substantiated, we will take immediate action,” Mastercard also said to Reuters.
Visa said it is aware of the allegations. The company says it is “actively engaging with the relevant financial institutions to investigate”. Visa also says it is engaging directly with MindGeek.
“If the site is identified as not complying with applicable laws or the financial institutions’ acceptable use policies and underwriting standards they will no longer be able to accept Visa payments,” the company said.
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