In the wake of a column in The New York Times which pointed out that Pornhub is "infested with rape videos" and "monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags," the porn site has come up with a policy to curb illegal content.
In a statement, Pornhub said over the years, they have "put in place robust measures to protect our platform from non-consensual content. We are constantly improving our trust and safety policy to better flag, remove, review and report illegal material."
Stating that the site has always been committed to "eliminating illegal content, including non-consensual material and child sexual abuse material," Pornhub said," Going forward, we will only allow properly identified users to upload content. We have banned downloads."
The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof had written that "Because it’s impossible to be sure whether a youth in a video is 14 or 18, neither Pornhub nor anyone else has a clear idea of how much content is illegal," and pointed out that the site allows videos to be downloaded directly from its website. Now, the website, in its revised policy, said, "we have removed the ability for users to download content from Pornhub, with the exception of paid downloads within the verified Model Program."
The website stated that effective immediately, only content partners and people within the Model Program will be able to upload content on the site.
It also said it is in the process of identifying and removing banned keywords. "While the list of banned keywords on Pornhub is already extensive, we will continue to identify additional keywords for removal on an ongoing basis," it stated.
There were also allegations that the website takes an inordinate amount of time to remove an illegal content after them being flagged, an issue that Kristof highlighted in his article. The website, in its latest notification, said, "If a user encounters a piece of content they think may violate the Terms of Service, we encourage them to immediately flag the video or fill out the Content Removal Request Form, which is linked on every page. Our policy is to immediately disable any content reported in the Content Removal Request Form for review."
"We will also continue to work with law enforcement globally to report and curb any issues of illegal content," it stated.