The company said it will restrict uploads to content partners and members of the platform’s Model Programme.
Adult entertainment website Pornhub has announced to tweak its content policies regarding uploads and downloads after a New York Times report exposed how non-consensual videos, often involving underage girls, are being posted on the platform.
In a statement, Pornhub said it will no longer accept uploads from unidentified users. The company said it will restrict uploads to content partners and members of the platform’s Model Programme.
Once content has been uploaded, Pornhub will block downloading content entirely, no longer allowing users to export content from the site outside of paid downloads. The move came after a NYT report from Nicholas Kristof which initiated an intense backlash against the company and its content practices.
“Pornhub just announced huge changes: a.) allow uploads only from verified users; b.) no downloads; c.) improvements in moderation,” Kristof tweeted on Wednesday (December 9).
In the short term, the website will restrict uploads to content partners and members of the platform’s Model Program, although Pornhub plans to roll out a broader verification process for regular users in 2021.
PornHub has also pledged to increase moderation of content currently on the platform through a newly established ‘Red Team’, dedicated to “proactively sweeping content already uploaded for potential violations and identifying any breakdowns in the moderation process.”
The company has also pledged to publish its first transparency report in 2021, detailing the results of moderation from the previous year.
“A great deal depends on how responsibly Pornhub implements these, and it hasn`t earned my trust at all, but these seem significant. A great deal will also depend on whether past content, already on the site, is vetted or removed,” Kristof said in a tweet.
The adult website was under increasing pressure from its business partners, who threatened to cut ties with the platform — particularly payment processors like Visa and Mastercard.
Dawn Hawkins, senior vice president and executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, was outspoken in calling for the site to be shut down. “Companies like Visa and MasterCard who partner with Pornhub are also profiting from the rape of children,” Hawkins said in a statement.
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