Mastercard has revealed that it is launching an investigation into a report that adult site Pornhub is hosting videos which show the abuse of children and unconscious women.
The payment network revealed to Reuters on Sunday that it is looking into the claims from a New York Times story that Pornhub is hosting rape videos.
Mastercard previously said it was working with Pornhub’s parent company MindGeek to “understand” the situation. The company said that if the accusations – including claims the pornographic website published footage of a 14-year-old girl being abused – are substantiated, it will take “immediate action.” This could include withholding payments to Pornhub or even refusing to be in the website’s payment network.
The company’s investigation follows calls for card companies to withhold payment to the pornographic website over the allegations, including from billionaire Bill Ackman.
a gofundme page has been created https://t.co/AQOeqVLYQC, but we can’t fix this problem one child at a time. Pornhub likely makes hundreds of millions of dollars. It can stop this now. Our humanity depends on it.
“The issue is not pornography but rape. Let’s agree that promoting assaults on children or on anyone without consent is unconscionable,” the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof wrote in his explosive column.
The reporter celebrated Mastercard’s decision on Sunday and also called on Google to “stop driving search traffic to rape videos or sites that host them.”
.@Mastercard is now reviewing ties with Pornhub: https://t.co/DcV6XH8YVz That puts useful pressure on the company, as would efforts by Google to stop driving search traffic to rape videos or sites that host them.
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