Pornhub bans unverified uploads, ability to download content from site

Pornhub will ban unverified content from being posted on its website and prohibit users from downloading content effective immediately, the company announced Tuesday. 

The update came after mounting pressure following a New York Times column published last week stating that the website contained rape scenes, revenge pornography and underaged sex. Days after the piece was published, credit card companies Mastercard and Visa said they were reviewing their businesses relationships with Pornhub. 

Columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote that while a “great majority” of the 6.8 million new videos posted on the side yearly may involve consenting adults, “many depict child abuse and nonconsensual violence.”

Pornhub called the allegations that it allows child videos on the site “irresponsible and flagrantly untrue.”

Pornhub announced on Tuesday that it is only allowing verified content partners or people within its “Model Program” to upload to the website, which will launch a verification process next year so “any user can upload content upon successful completion of identification protocol.”

Additionally, the website said it has removed the ability for users to download content with the exception of paid downloads within the verified Model Program. 

The previous ability for users to download directly from Pornhub had made it possible for content that may have been removed to still be shared, and possibly uploaded again. 

As part of its updates, Pornhub said it will also expand its content moderation, including a newly established “Red Team” that will be dedicated to solely self-auditing the platform for potential illegal material. Pornhub said it will also “continue to identify additional keywords” as part of its “already extensive” list of banned keywords. 

Pornhub said it will release a transparency report in 2021 detailing its content moderation results from this year, similar to how other tech platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have done. 

“Pornhub seeks to be fully transparent about the content that should and should not appear on the platform. This will make us the only adult content platform to release such a report,” the company stated.