After 'Flagrantly Untrue' Report, Pornhub Makes Changes

Related to user uploads, downloads
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2020 12:03 PM CST
After Scathing Report, Pornhub Makes Changes
Stock photo.   (Getty Images)

In the wake of a scathing and lengthy New York Times report by Nicholas Kristof that alleged rape and child abuse videos are rampant on Pornhub, a change to the site. While maintaining the claims are "irresponsible and flagrantly untrue," the site says it has amended the rules around user uploads and downloads, a move that the Verge sees as "aimed at keeping nonconsensual videos off the site." Specifically, users will have to be verified in order to upload videos (the only users who are currently verified are adult-film professionals, with verification rolling out to the public in 2021). Users also no longer have the ability to download videos, the exception being paid downloads of videos from verified users, PCMag reports.

The industry has been clamoring for this for some time: Pornhub users' ability to download and upload at will allowed "pirated, stolen, and illegal videos to proliferate, while also making sales of original content more difficult," per the BBC. The AP reports the changes were announced in a Tuesday blog post in which Pornhub said it will detail the verification process for users in the new year. Some 6.8 million new videos were uploaded to the website last year, or nearly 20,000 per day. Pornhub couldn't detail which percentage of that was from unverified users. The site's content will also be reviewed by a law firm hired by Pornhub. (Visa and Mastercard say they're reviewing their business relationship with Pornhub in light of the claims.)

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