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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 13th December 2021
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Pornhub publishes its annual report on popular porn viewing See article from pornhub.com |
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Major US cable TV company axes porn channels owned by Mindgeek
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 8th June 2021
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| See article from
endsexualexploitation.org |
Comcast Cable (owners of the Xfinity brand)-- the largest cable television company in the United States with close to 20 million pay TVsubscribers is banning cable channels and streaming services owned by Mindgeek (owners of Pornhub). A
Comcast representative said that they were deeply concerned over the growing number of reports against MindGeek for unlawful business practices, including minors being exploited on their sites. As a result of this increasing evidence, Comcast decided to
drop all MindGeek content from their cable systems. As of April 2021, all MindGeek material has been removed. Furthermore, Comcast disabled new subscription video on demand (SVOD) signups and notified all their existing SVOD customers of their
decision to remove content and cease distribution of MindGeek's SVOD services. Existing customers were informed of Comcast's decision through bill messages. Once the subscriber notification process was completed, the SVOD content became unavailable on
their cable channels. |
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Payment card introduces onerous censorship requirements for working with adult content
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 18th April
2021
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| See article from mastercard.com
See Here's What the New Mastercard Rules Mean for Adult Sites, Producers. From xbiz.com
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Mastercard has taken another step along the path to a dystopian world where moralists and US corporate monsters can dictate how people can spend their money. Mastercard explains: Enhancing
requirements for adult content, preventing anonymous content This month, we are extending our existing Specialty Merchant Registration requirements. The banks that connect merchants to our network will need to certify
that the seller of adult content has effective controls in place to monitor, block and, where necessary, take down all illegal content. You might ask, "Why now?" In the past few years, the ability to upload content to
the internet has become easier than ever. All someone needs is a smartphone and a Wi-Fi connection. Now, our requirements address the risks associated with this activity. And that starts with strong content control measures and
clear, unambiguous and documented consent. Other updated requirements include:
Documented age and identity verification for all people depicted and those uploading the content Content
review process prior to publication Complaint resolution process that addresses illegal or nonconsensual content within seven business days
Appeals process allowing for any person depicted to request their content be removed
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Anti-porn campaigners analyse video titles on major porn tubes and with the help of a little stretching of the English language conclude that 1 in 8 are 'sexually violent'
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 10th April 2021
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| 4th April 2021. See article from bbc.co.uk See
full paper from academic.oup.com |
Anti porn campaigners have been cataloguing porn titles on Pornhub, XVideos and xHamster and claim that one in eight have titles describing sexually violent acts. Their use of the term 'sexually violent' is a little bizarre though, and inevitably has
been redefined to include non-violent material that the authors deem to be violent totally at odds with normal people's use of the English language. The campaigners analysed 131,738 titles of videos that appeared on the front page of the tube websites
(without specifically searching for anything nor allowing the site to build up a profile of preferences). The campaigners claimed that
- 8,421 (6.4%) titles included terms for family relationships and 5,785 (4.4%) titles described sexual activity between family members - the most common category of 'sexually violent' material identified in the survey
- 5,389 (4.1%) titles
referred to physical aggression or the depiction of forced sexual activity (acknowledging that performers had likely consented
- 2,966 (2.2%) titles described image-based sexual abuse, including hidden cams and upskirting
- 2,698 (1.7%)
titles described as coercion and exploitation
The campaigners excluded BDSM material as they seemed to have gotten confused about whether the term 'violence' applies to the genre that seems to be higher more PC than other genres. Pornhub's owner Mindgeek recently removed millions of videos that
had been uploaded by users who had not been verified after claims of hosting illegal content. But it commented on the clips it has allowed to remain online: Consenting adults are entitled to their own sexual
preferences, as long as they are legal and consensual, and all kinks that meet these criteria are welcome on Pornhub.
Academic Clare McGlynn who co-authored the survey, said: It's shocking that this
is the material that the porn companies themselves are choosing to showcase to first-time users. Collegue Fiona Vera-Gray and co-author of the survey, said: Sexually violent material eroticised non-consent
and distorted the boundary between sexual pleasure and sexual violence.
The survey, titled Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography, is published in the latest issue of The British Journal of
Criminology. with its abstract reading: This article examines the ways in which mainstream pornography positions sexual violence as a normative sexual script by analysing the video titles found on the landing pages of
the three most popular pornography websites in the United Kingdom. The study draws on the largest research sample of online pornographic content to date and is unique in its focus on the content immediately advertised to a new user. We found that one in
eight titles shown to first-time users on the first page of mainstream porn sites describe sexual activity that constitutes sexual violence. Our findings raise serious questions about the extent of criminal material easily and freely available on
mainstream pornography websites and the efficacy of current regulatory mechanisms.
Offsite Comment: Academic Click Bate: The War On Porn Continues 7th April 2021. See article from reprobatepress.com
by David Flint The study makes big claims that were inevitably picked up and repeated uncritically by media outlets like the BBC. But even a cursory glance at the evidence and the conclusions might make a more open-minded
person raise their eyebrows. If ever there was a study that set out in search of evidence to back up a belief already held, this is it. See
article from reprobatepress.com
Offsite Comment: British Journal of Criminology Study on Violence in Porn 10th April 2021. See
article from avn.com If you only read headlines about a new study
from the British Journal of Criminology you might think that large quantities of criminal videos of sexual violence on tube sites are warping most children's minds, turning them into sexual violators. But this isn't even close to
true. The coverage of the study is misleading and exaggerated. But the study itself is extremely flawed. First, the researchers included everything from stepmom to ploughed in the category of sexual violence. Defined that broadly,
it's shocking the study found only one in eight videos depicted sexual violence. See full article from avn.com
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California state senator introduces a bill targeting Pornhub
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 20th February 2021
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| See article from avn.com
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A California state senator has introduced a bill that would make online sites liable for non-consensual sexual images and videos uploaded by users. Titled the Ending Online Sexual Trafficking and Exploitation Act , SB-435 sponsored by San Jose
Democrat Dave Cortese would allow alleged victims of non-consensual image sharing to sue sites and platforms that display the image, potentially collecting damages of $100,000 for every two hours the image remains online after a takedown notification.
The bill requires that sites must take down any such non-consensual image upon receipt of a takedown demand by a person seen in the image. |
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Pornhub comes under scrutiny in the Canadian Parliament
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 6th February 2021
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| 2nd February 2021. See article from xbiz.com
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The Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in Canada's House of Commons held a hearing concerning allegations made against Pornhub's content moderation policies. The allegations featured in a New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof and
were based on a religious group Exodus Cry's Traffickinghub campaign against the tube site and parent company MindGeek. MindGeek is headquartered in Luxembourg, although many of its operations are run from Montreal and the two people identified by the
New York Times as owners are Canadian nationals. The committee heard from a witness who retold her story of having difficulties getting Pornhub to remove a video she had shot of herself as a teenager, which then she sent to a boyfriend and which
was allegedly repeatedly uploaded onto the tube site by unidentified third parties. The committee also heard from New York lawyer Michael Bowe, who has previously represented disgraced evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr. and Donald Trump. Bowe made
repeated claims about a supposed conspiracy masterminded by MindGeek, and their agents and allies to gaslight the public opinion about the organized international campaign against Pornhub. Bowe also asked for Canada to change their laws to make MindGeek
accountable, and stated that in his opinion the company committed criminal offenses. Update: Pornhub Releases Statement About Content Moderation Changes 6th February 2021. See
statement from help.pornhub.com
Going forward, we will only allow properly identified users to upload content. We have banned downloads. We have made some key expansions to our moderation process, and we recently launched a Trusted Flagger Program with dozens of non-profit
organizations. Earlier this year, we also partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and next year we will issue our first transparency report. Full details on our expanded policies can be found below.
If you wish to report any content that violates our terms of service, including CSAM or other illegal content, please click this link . 1. Verified Uploaders Only Effective
immediately, only content partners and people within the Model Program will be able to upload content to Pornhub. In the new year, we will implement a verification process so that any user can upload content upon successful completion of identification
protocol. 2. Banning Downloads Effective immediately, we have removed the ability for users to download content from Pornhub, with the exception of paid downloads within the verified Model Program.
In tandem with our fingerprinting technology, this will mitigate the ability for content already removed from the platform to be able to return. 3. Expanded Moderation We have worked to create
comprehensive measures that help protect our community from illegal content. In recent months we deployed an additional layer of moderation. The newly established "Red Team" will be dedicated solely to self-auditing the platform for potentially
illegal material. The Red Team provides an extra layer of protection on top of the existing protocol, proactively sweeping content already uploaded for potential violations and identifying any breakdowns in the moderation process that could allow a piece
of content that violates the Terms of Service. Additionally, while the list of banned keywords on Pornhub is already extensive, we will continue to identify additional keywords for removal on an ongoing basis. We will also regularly monitor search terms
within the platform for increases in phrasings that attempt to bypass the safeguards in place. Pornhub's current content moderation includes an extensive team of human moderators dedicated to manually reviewing every single upload, a thorough system for
flagging, reviewing and removing illegal material, robust parental controls, and utilization of a variety of automated detection technologies. These technologies include:
CSAI Match, YouTube's proprietary technology for combating Child Sexual Abuse Imagery online Content Safety API, Google's artificial intelligence tool that helps detect illegal imagery -
PhotoDNA, Microsoft's technology that aids in finding and removing known images of child exploitation Vobile, a fingerprinting software that scans any new uploads for potential matches to unauthorized
materials to protect against banned videos being re-uploaded to the platform.
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. 4. Trusted Flagger Program We recently launched a Trusted Flagger
Program, a new initiative empowering non-profit partners to alert us of content they think may violate our Terms of Service. The Trusted Flagger Program consists of more than 40 leading non-profit organizations in the space of internet and child safety.
Our partners have a direct line of access to our moderation team, and any content identified by a Trusted Flagger is immediately disabled. Partners include: Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (United States of America), National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children (United States of America), Internet Watch Foundation (United Kingdom), Stopline (Austria), Child Focus (Belgium), Safenet (Bulgaria), Te Protejo Hotline - I Protect You Hotline (Colombia), CZ.NIC - Stop Online (Czech Republic ), Point
de Contact (France), Eco-Association of the Internet Industry (Germany), Safeline (Greece), Save the Children (Iceland), Latvian Internet Association (Latvia), Meldpunt Kinderporno - Child Pornography Reporting Point (Netherlands), Centre for Safer
Internet Slovenia (Slovenia), FPB Hotline - Film and Publication Board (South Africa), ECPAT (Sweden), ECPAT (Taiwan). 5. NCMEC Partnership Last year, we voluntarily partnered with the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in order to transparently report and limit incidents of CSAM on our platform. In early 2021, NCMEC will release our total number of reported CSAM incidents alongside numbers from other major social and
content platforms. We will also continue to work with law enforcement globally to report and curb any issues of illegal content. 6. Transparency Report In 2021, we will release a Transparency Report
detailing our content moderation results from 2020. This will identify not just the full number of reports filed with NCMEC, but also other key details related to the trust and safety of our platform. Much like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other tech
platforms, 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. 7. Independent Review
As part of our commitment, in April 2020 we hired the law firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP to conduct an independent review of our content compliance function, with a focus on meeting legal standards and eliminating all
non-consensual content, CSAM and any other content uploaded without the meaningful consent of all parties. We requested that the goal of the independent review be to identify the requisite steps to achieve a "best-in-class" content compliance
program that sets the standard for the technology industry. Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP is continuing its review, but has already identified and categorized a comprehensive inventory of remedial recommendations, supported by dozens of additional
sub-recommendations, in addition to the steps identified above, based on an evaluation and assessment of our current policies and practices. Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP is soliciting information to assist with its review and in developing
recommendations regarding our compliance policies and procedures. If you would like to provide compliance suggestions, you can do so here . Update: Pornhub: Canadian MPs Finally Invite Sex Worker Advocates 20th
April 2021. See article from xbiz.com Biased Canadian ethics committee shamed into listening to the other side of
the argument in a diatribe against Pornhub. |
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 19th
January 2021
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What do sex workers need to know? See article from kulturehub.com |
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 3rd January 2021
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How Moral Crusaders, Mainstream Media and Politicians Are Gunning for XXX See article from xbiz.com
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) |
27th December 2020
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Following the seismic exposure of Pornhub for hosting non-consensual and abusive content, credit card companies have cut ties with the adult site, but creators who rely on the platform have been left in the lurch See
article from dazeddigital.com |
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Senators propose far reaching anti-pornHub censorship law
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 21st December 2020
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| See article from avn.com
See bill [pdf] from sasse.senate.gov |
U.S. Senators Ben Sasse and Jeff Merkley have introduced a bipartisan bill calling for extensive new censorship rules for adult websites. Dubbed the Stop Internet Sexual Explotation Act , the bill was prompted, according to an
announcement from Sasse's office, by reports of how videos and photos are uploaded to websites like Pornhub without the consent of individuals who appear in them. In particular the bill seems triggered by charges filed against Pornhub parent company
MindGeek alleging that the company knowingly hosted and profited from the non-consensual videos over which website GirlsDoPorn. Among the censorship measures the new bill seeks to enact are:
- Require any user uploading a video to the platform to verify their identiry
- Require any user uploading a video to the platform also upload a signed consent form from every individual appearing in the video
- Creating a private right
of action against an uploader who uploads a pornographic image without the consent of an individual featured in the image
- Requiring platforms hosting pornography to include a notice or banner on the website instructing how an individual can
request removal of a video if an individual has not consented to it being uploaded on the platform
- Prohibiting video downloads from these platforms, to be in place within three months of enactment of the legislation
- Requiring platforms
hosting pornography to offer a 24-hour hotline staffed by the platform, for individuals who contact the hotline to request removal of a video that has been distributed without their consent
- Requiring removal of flagged videos within two hours of
such a request
- Requiring platforms to use software to block a video from being re-uploaded after its removal, which must be in place within six months of enactment of the legislations
- Directing the Federal Trade Commission to enforce
violations of these requirements
- Creating a database of individuals who have indicated they do not consent, which must be checked before new content can be uploaded to platforms
- Instructing the Department of Justice to promulgate rules
on where this database should be housed, and determine how to connect victims with services, to include couseling and casework
- Establishing that failure to comply with this requirement will result in a civil penalty to the platform, with
proceeds going towards victim services
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Pornhub takes down the majority of its videos, those from unverified uploaders
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 15th December 2020
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| See article from pornhub.com |
Pornhub explained in a blog post: At Pornhub, the safety of our community is our top priority. Last week, we enacted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history. We banned unverified uploaders from posting new
content, eliminated downloads, and partnered with dozens of non-profit organizations, among other major policy changes (please read here for more details). As part of our 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. 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.
In today's world, all social media platforms share the responsibility to combat illegal material. Solutions must be driven by real facts and real experts. We hope we have demonstrated our dedication to leading by example.
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They can control where you are allowed to spend your money, and in this case at Pornhub
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) |
13th December 2020
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| 7th December 2020. See article from bbc.co.uk |
Payments giant Mastercard is considering banning people from spending their money at Pornhub. Mastercard is reviewing its business with pornography platform Pornhub, following a campaign against the website being highlighted by the New York
Times. Mastercard responded after reporter Nicholas Kristof said he didn't see why search engines, banks or credit-card companies should bolster Pornhub. Pornhub is free to use but users can pay £9.99 a month for higher-quality video
streams and advert-free and exclusive content. Update: Visa too 13th December 2020. See
article from avn.com
Visa followed Mastercard's lead and said that it too won't allow Pornhub users to use their credit cards to make charges on the adult content site. Visa said in a statement: We are instructing the financial institutions who serve MindGeek to
suspend processing of payments through the Visa network. And according to Bloomberg.com, Mastercard said it's continuing to investigate potential illegal content on other websites, most likely XVideos. |
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Pornhub responds to criticism and now requires full identification of uploaders
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 9th December 2020
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| See article from help.pornhub.com |
Pornhub has responded to criticism by a significant change of rules to require formal identification of uploaders. Pornhub explains: Today, we are taking major steps to further protect our community. Going forward, we will only allow
properly identified users to upload content. We have banned downloads. We have made some key expansions to our moderation process, and we recently launched a Trusted Flagger Program with dozens of non-profit organizations. Earlier this year, we also
partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and next year we will issue our first transparency report. Full details on our expanded policies can be found below. 1. Verified Uploaders Only
Effective immediately, only content partners and people within the Model Program will be able to upload content to Pornhub. In the new year, we will implement a verification process so that any user can upload content upon successful
completion of identification protocol. 2. Banning Downloads Effective immediately, we have removed the ability for users to download content from Pornhub, with the exception of paid downloads within
the verified Model Program. In tandem with our fingerprinting technology, this will mitigate the ability for content already removed from the platform to be able to return. 3. Expanded Moderation We
have worked to create comprehensive measures that help protect our community from illegal content. In recent months we deployed an additional layer of moderation. The newly established "Red Team" will be dedicated solely to self-auditing the
platform for potentially illegal material. The Red Team provides an extra layer of protection on top of the existing protocol, proactively sweeping content already uploaded for potential violations and identifying any breakdowns in the moderation process
that could allow a piece of content that violates the Terms of Service. Additionally, while the list of banned keywords on Pornhub is already extensive, we will continue to identify additional keywords for removal on an ongoing basis. We will also
regularly monitor search terms within the platform for increases in phrasings that attempt to bypass the safeguards in place. Pornhub's current content moderation includes an extensive team of human moderators dedicated to manually reviewing every single
upload, a thorough system for flagging, reviewing and removing illegal material, robust parental controls, and utilization of a variety of automated detection technologies. These technologies include:
CSAI Match, YouTube's proprietary technology for combating Child Sexual Abuse Imagery online Content Safety API, Google's artificial intelligence tool that helps detect illegal imagery -
PhotoDNA, Microsoft's technology that aids in finding and removing known images of child exploitation Vobile, a fingerprinting software that scans any new uploads for potential matches to unauthorized
materials to protect against banned videos being re-uploaded to the platform.
4. Trusted Flagger Program We recently launched a Trusted Flagger Program, a new initiative empowering non-profit partners to alert us of content they think may violate our Terms of Service. The Trusted
Flagger Program consists of more than 40 leading non-profit organizations in the space of internet and child safety. Our partners have a direct line of access to our moderation team, and any content identified by a Trusted Flagger is immediately
disabled. Partners include: Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (United States of America), National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (United States of America), Internet Watch Foundation (United Kingdom), Stopline (Austria), Child Focus (Belgium),
Safenet (Bulgaria), Te Protejo Hotline - I Protect You Hotline (Colombia), CZ.NIC - Stop Online (Czech Republic ), Point de Contact (France), Eco-Association of the Internet Industry (Germany), Safeline (Greece), Save the Children (Iceland), Latvian
Internet Association (Latvia), Meldpunt Kinderporno - Child Pornography Reporting Point (Netherlands), Centre for Safer Internet Slovenia (Slovenia), FPB Hotline - Film and Publication Board (South Africa), ECPAT (Sweden), ECPAT (Taiwan).
5. NCMEC Partnership Last year, we voluntarily partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in order to transparently report and limit incidents of CSAM on our
platform. In early 2021, NCMEC will release our total number of reported CSAM incidents alongside numbers from other major social and content platforms. We will also continue to work with law enforcement globally to report and curb any issues of illegal
content. 6. Transparency Report In 2021, we will release a Transparency Report detailing our content moderation results from 2020. This will identify not just the full number of reports filed with
NCMEC, but also other key details related to the trust and safety of our platform. Much like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other tech platforms, 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. 7. Independent Review As part of our commitment, in April 2020 we hired the law firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP to
conduct an independent review of our content compliance function, with a focus on meeting legal standards and eliminating all non-consensual content, CSAM and any other content uploaded without the meaningful consent of all parties. We requested that the
goal of the independent review be to identify the requisite steps to achieve a "best-in-class" content compliance program that sets the standard for the technology industry. Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP is continuing its review, but has already
identified and categorized a comprehensive inventory of remedial recommendations, supported by dozens of additional sub-recommendations, in addition to the steps identified above, based on an evaluation and assessment of our current policies and
practices. Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP is soliciting information to assist with its review and in developing recommendations regarding our compliance policies and procedures. |
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![Link Here](images/ca_link.gif) | 6th December 2020
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The New York Times calls for the censorship of Pornhub See article from xbiz.com |
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