Visa will allow select payments from Pornhub owner Mindgeek
Its Pornhub ban, however, is still in place.
Visa isn’t done investigating allegations of illegal activity against Pornhub, but it has apparently seen enough to start accepting payments from its parent company again. According to Reuters and CNN, the credit card company will allow payments using its cards for some of MindGeek’s adult sites featuring professionally produced videos after an in-depth review. Its Pornhub ban, however, will remain in place until the full investigation is finished.
The credit card company said in a statement:
“Following a thorough review, Visa will reinstate acceptance privileges for MindGeek sites that offer professionally produced adult studio content that is subject to requirements designed to ensure compliance with the law.”
Mastercard, Visa and Discover cut off payments to Pornhub (and other MindGeek properties) a few weeks ago after a New York Times article highlighted how the site’s lax policy enforcement led to the spread of illegal content on the site. The piece noted that by failing to enforce its rules, Pornhub was essentially monetizing videos containing assault and violence, child exploitation, revenge pornography and other similar content. The credit card companies said they’re issuing a temporary ban to investigate the allegations.
In a previous statement provided to The Associated Press, Pornhub said the allegation that it allows child sexual exploitation on its website is "irresponsible and flagrantly untrue.” Still, it stopped allowing unverified users to upload videos and banned users’ ability to download content as a response to the backlash. It also purged all unverified content from the platform, which resulted in the removal of anywhere between 6 and 9 million videos. It’s unclear at this point if Mastercard and Discover plan to follow suit and relax their ban on websites owned by MindGeek.
