Visa and MasterCard ban Pornhub over abusive videos

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Pornhub has been banned from accepting payments over the Visa and MasterCard networks-a serious blow for a site that has come under increasing fire for failing to effectively filter harmful content.

"The issue is not pornography but rape," wrote New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in a column last week that inspired the credit card companies' moves. "Promoting assaults on children or on anyone without consent is unconscionable."

Like other social media sites, Pornhub allowed anyone to upload content to be shared with others. Many of those videos depict adults engaged in consensual sexual acts. But Kristof said a number of videos show sex acts involving children under the age of 18. He also found videos of women being raped, creepy hidden-camera videos, and "recordings of assaults on unconscious women and girls."

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