Pornhub has just removed all videos that weren’t uploaded by official content partners or members of its model program. What do you think of this decision, and how will it affect your visits to the adult site?
As The Sword recently reported, Pornhub faced backlash after a NYT columnist called out the site (and its parent company MindGeek, which also operates Men.com) for profiting off videos of exploitation and assault, hosting videos that contained child rape, revenge pornography, spy cam videos, racist and , and more. Days later, Visa and Mastercard announced they would refuse to process payments to the site.
Yesterday, Pornhub published an announcement noting that as part of its policy to ban unverified uploaders, “we have now also suspended all previously uploaded content that was not created by content partners or members of the Model Program. This means every piece of Pornhub content is from verified uploaders, a requirement that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter have yet to institute.”
As a result, the library of content on the site has plummeted. Before the purge, more than 13 million videos were available; that is now less than 3 million.
Pornhub noted that the videos will undergo a verification process that begins in the new year (which may result in some being added back). As noted by Motherboard (the first to report the news this morning), “Prior to this change, anyone could create an account on Pornhub and upload any video they wanted to, since the platform’s launch in 2007.”
In its statement, Pornhub continued:
“Leading non-profit organizations and advocacy groups acknowledge our efforts to date at combating illegal content have been effective. Over the last three years, Facebook self-reported 84 million instances of child sexual abuse material. During that same period, the independent, third-party Internet Watch Foundation reported 118 incidents on Pornhub. That is still 118 too many, which is why we are committed to taking every necessary action.
It is clear that Pornhub is being targeted not because of our policies and how we compare to our peers, but because we are an adult content platform. The two groups that have spearheaded the campaign against our company are the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (formerly known as Morality in Media) and Exodus Cry/TraffickingHub. These are organizations dedicated to abolishing pornography, banning material they claim is obscene, and shutting down commercial sex work. These are the same forces that have spent 50 years demonizing Playboy, the National Endowment for the Arts, sex education, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and even the American Library Association. Today, it happens to be Pornhub.”
What do you think of this move? Is it the beginning of the end for Pornhub? It it too extreme? Is it long overdue, and Pornhub is primarily at fault for not instituting better moderation and review processes from the beginning?
It will certainly cause its audience and clicks to plummet; I checked to see if my favorite videos from one user were still there (a hot amateur series of glory hole videos where neither the faces of the sucker or suckee were visible), and they aren’t. Have your favorites disappeared? Will you still visit Pornhub?
Blows my mind how adult entertainment industry can be blatantly discriminated against & it’s ok….?!?
if this is really mr.pam, you should know better than how much damage mindgeek has done. We know that company that fired you Gamma isn’t any better but come on mindgeek literally destroyed and is still destroying the industry. Girl you should know better!
Where the hell is all my earned advertising kickback?
And then to say y’all won’t remove a D.M.C.A. violation film when notified …
Once the right lawyer and court level finds your queen in the hive ahh so many millionaires made from sex education and art. .any of whom are studio actors whom haven’t gotten a residual check for years, because of y’all’s monopoly.
First it was Tumbler 3 years ago and now the moral police are attacking Pornhub! Welcome to communism. Not to be flip but Americans are slowly but surely losing their rights and freedoms. It seems we’re becoming more like china or russia? And for those who think they’re the so called ‘moral police’ and can dictate what people watch in the privacy of their homes, they need to go to one of the communist utopias where the government tells you what you can read, see on media and controls every aspect of your lives from birth to death., period. If what’s available on Pornhub or X Hamster or any of the other adult sites offends them (and only a moron doesn’t know what these sites are all about), they don’t have to visit them or look. BTW: content featuring rape, violence and child content needs to be ferreted out and the posters need to be prosecuted.
WELL SAID. VERY well said. Sad, but true – the mass has no clue what they are throwing away. Don’t know what you got till it’s gone. America is going…
William, you are brain dead. If pornhub didnt now take over or especially mindgeek you would be earning more money for your work. Like the way many of you in the industry are coming to defend a trash company like mind geek is baffling. Not sure if its being so uneducated or that you’re probably working or mindgeek. Or better yet maybe you’re being paid by them to no speak ill of them.
I think someone got a hold of Hunter Bidens Lap Top and found some under age Chinese & got caught. But like Bidens they will cover it up with PornHub being blamed.
This is a reply to Joe. Thanks for telling it like it is and how well stated. How joey touchy feely ‘commie’ chinese butt kisser biden and ‘heels up’ harris won the election still baffles the thinking loyal Americans among us. Sadly in California, thinking and rational Americans are in the minority and this has allowed the liberals to destroy the former golden state and allow San Francisco to become the new ‘doo doo’ capital of America, sad but true
The way that people on here are defending a company that is known to illegally upload content from other companies and especially independent producers are up in arms. All of you defending pornhub need to take a hard look in the mirror, this company literally is destroying the industry.
These are probably the same people (and their like) who freaked out when they shut Napster down 20 years ago. OMG now I have to actually PAY for my entertainment. If you think paying for porn is wrong, then you shouldn’t be watching it to begin with.
We’re not necessarily defending Pornhub, we’re mad at our freedoms being slowly taken away. What needs to happen, anyone who sees videos featuring, violence, rape or child content needs to be able to notify the administrators of the site or the posting. All submissions are traceable thus the posters can be prosecuted, simple solution. By virtue of the thousands of videos constantly being uploaded, it’s virtually impossible for the administrators of the site to monitor all the postings so thus viewers who come upon such uploads, can report them to the site administrators for deletion and reporting to the proper authorities
Listen pornhub could’ve fixed this back when stuff started coming up but they didn’t. they fucked up big time got exposed and are now paying for it. Also, free tube sites like pornhub should’ve been shut down from the start before they caused mayhem in the industry. Thanks to MINDGEEK the owners of porhub now we all have to face these stupid consequences.
So in conclusion, pay for your porn, and fuck mindgeek. They are a huge monopoly and someone maybe the sword should do a heavy investigation on how they ruined the industry… but that would mean ruining that partnership perhaps.
Either way, pornhub is the bad guy here guys, we only got to this point because pornhub got exposed for being the shady company they are.
I’ll miss the spy cams. Let’s face it, most of them were staged. Still, the idea was intriguing.
… no they weren’t that’s why they’re being scrutinized!
ALL my videos are gone! Hate that site now
all your illegally uploaded videos are gone
just because I wasn’t verified. And besides, I was the only one who starred in the videos. I’m 37.
Than bitch that’s on you for trusting a sketch company like pornhubb
Jan van Es: I noticed all my videos i downloaded are all gone!!! also with half the favorite videos that i saved. Not good!!
It is the attack on web sites. From FB to Instagram to porn sites. Basically Congress is cracking down on content. They put pressure on credit card companies, who in turn pressure web sites, due to content that is highly questionable. Remember back in 2000 and all the chat rooms on Yahoo and other browser sites? Conservatives cracked down on it due to child porn concerns. Before you knew it, Yahoo chat along with others went offline.
It isn’t a question of being too extreme but rather doing the right thing! It’s sad and traject that this site is straddling the fence and doesn’t take a side..