Pornhub

Gruffalux

Surprised this has not a thread.
Pornhub - the biggest provider of porn on the planet and beloved of many it would seem - has removed 80% of its content. It has gone from 13.5 million videos to about 3 million. All content from unverified users has been removed.

This is supposedly because of an investigation by the New York Times that found it hosted large amounts of rape and abuse content.
But I think it was because Mastercard and Visa stopped allowing their cards to be used on the site. The reason I think this is there have been long and vocal campaigns by people like Laila Micklewait and girls who themselves found their underage and rape videos to have content removed, and almost nothing was done about it. Now that they are hit in the purse strings they suddenly get a conscience.
Classy place to hang out. It's owners have all made hundreds of millions from the cesspit of a site.

begbysback

And you were just passing through and noticed some videos missing?

JeffKenna

I was wondering what was wrong with my card not working.

Gruffalux

begbysback wrote: »

And you were just passing through and noticed some videos missing?

Heh. No. I'm a lady and rape sex is not my thing.

Gruffalux

A comparison. I often hear it said that if you smoke weed, take drugs (which I don't) you are complicit in a savage industry that causes death and poverty and violence etc. But it is not said much that if you get your sexual release watching content on a website that hosted up to 2 days ago a huge amount of rape videos and abuse of underage and unconscious or even kidnapped people, you are not at all complicit. I wonder why Pornhub has gotten such a free pass for so many years?

Tork

I didn't know there were underage and rape videos on there but I'm sure an awful lot of the content has been added without the consent of all the participants.

Kraftwerk

“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 service writes. “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.”

Imagine actually thinking that payment systems refusing to process payments from porn sites found hosting child porn and rape videos is like criticism of women's rights.

Gruffalux

Tork wrote: »

I didn't know there were underage and rape videos on there but I'm sure an awful lot of the content has been added without the consent of all the participants.

I don't have time to look into the provenance of the website hosting this article, but I link it as it links to other articles and evidence.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/one-million-people-sign-petition-to-shut-down-pornhub-for-alleged-sex-trafficking-videos-301072809.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-51391981

Gruffalux

Kraftwerk wrote: »

“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 service writes. “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.”

Imagine actually thinking that payment systems refusing to process payments from porn sites found hosting child porn and rape videos is like criticism of women's rights.

Jeezuz, trying to link themselves to an identity politics cause.. :rolleyes:

Stateofyou

Gruffalux wrote: »

A comparison. I often hear it said that if you smoke weed, take drugs (which I don't) you are complicit in a savage industry that causes death and poverty and violence etc. But it is not said much that if you get your sexual release watching content on a website that hosted up to 2 days ago a huge amount of rape videos and abuse of underage and unconscious or even kidnapped people, you are not at all complicit. I wonder why Pornhub has gotten such a free pass for so many years?

I've never heard it said about weed. Especially seeing how it's a plant easily grown by anyone for themselves for one, and for two some countries around the world have legalised it so it's manufacturing and use is regulated. So to say you're complicit in a savage industry because you smoke weed is fairly laughable...

Porn is a stain on society especially young men and women. I said what I said.

Gruffalux

Stateofyou wrote: »

I've never heard it said about weed. Especially seeing how it's a plant easily grown by anyone for themselves for one, and for two some countries around the world have legalised it so it's manufacturing and use is regulated. So to say you're complicit in a savage industry because you smoke weed is fairly laughable...

Porn is a stain on society especially young men and women. I said what I said.

Well you know what I mean. A little exaggeration is a dramatic fault of mine. And I have actually met people who sincerely think weed users are the dregs of the earth and complicit in violent crime.

GarIT

Kraftwerk wrote: »

“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 service writes. “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.”

Imagine actually thinking that payment systems refusing to process payments from porn sites found hosting child porn and rape videos is like criticism of women's rights.

The same group that kicked all of this off with the article have previously run campaigns to ban all porn, and ban LGBT marriage. In their last article the stories they told of victims were found to be fake.

PornHub are bad but when others are worse and nothing is done it starts to look like they are being targeted.

PornHub now requires ID verification to upload content and removed all content where they don't have the ID of the uploader. If anything they are now the most ethical porn site. Yet they, and a social network for the kink community, FetLife, are the only sites where payment can't be processed.

JeffKenna

It's the camgirls I always got a bad feeling from. Granted it's a great way for some women to make money and I'm sure they do it independently but I always felt there was something more sinister going on with the large number of girls, from say, country's like Romania.

Stone Deaf 4evr

gonna be a lot of stepbrothers short of cash this christmas.

dudeeile

Effects

Stateofyou wrote: »

I've never heard it said about weed. Especially seeing how it's a plant easily grown by anyone for themselves for one, and for two some countries around the world have legalised it so it's manufacturing and use is regulated. So to say you're complicit in a savage industry because you smoke weed is fairly laughable..

Not everyone grows their own weed. It's laughable to think they will.

Wibbs

Tork wrote: »

I didn't know there were underage and rape videos on there but I'm sure an awful lot of the content has been added without the consent of all the participants.

It's their business model like any of those sites. They uploaded pro and amateur content knowing the producers didn't have the cash or willingness to pursue them in courts. Courts which would likely not smile too kindly on the genre itself. They're only getting roasted now because of the videos that are/may be underage and rape content. I seem to recall reading recently that one woman featured on that site was underage and filmed against her will?

I'd not be surprised to learn that a porn producer or two who weren't making anything from their stolen content leaked the underage/rape angle to rat them out and hit them in their revenue stream.

Thing is with more and more ways to make payments online and things like cryptocurrency sites like these won't be going away any time soon. Set up in a country with few or no regulations and get payment through the above means and the tills keep ringing. And that market is enormous. Something like 10% of all web traffic is related to porn. That's a lot of potential money to be made.

Gruffalux wrote: »

Jeezuz, trying to link themselves to an identity politics cause.. :rolleyes:

They're just following the current trend to link to and focus everything through the identity politics lens, for good, ill, or cynically. It gets the most attention for your cause de jour for good, ill, or cynically. For my money the whole identity politic is a canker on our age and ironically leads to more divisive politics and philosophies.

Stateofyou

Effects wrote: »

Not everyone grows their own weed. It's laughable to think they will.

It's laughable if you think that's what I said.

silverharp

imagine being the guy that had to review them all to see if they could stay or have to go

Wibbs

Stateofyou wrote: »

It's laughable if you think that's what I said.

We're not living in parts of America or Canada. Ireland hasn't legalised weed. It's not regulated. It's produced and supplied in the majority of cases in this country by criminal organisations who also supply drugs that people see as being complicit in supporting a "savage industry". Therefore in Ireland Gruffalux's point still stands.

Wibbs

silverharp wrote: »

imagine being the guy that had to review them all to see if they could stay or have to go

It was done so quickly I suspect they just nuked all non verified content from their database.

Gruffalux

Wibbs wrote: »

It was done so quickly I suspect they just nuked all non verified content from their database.

That's what they did. All unverified content gone. They should have been doing it for the last 15 years

Wibbs

And the unverified content will be uploaded elsewhere until another site gets the attention. I can't see this going away any time soon.

Dave0301

Gruffalux wrote: »

That's what they did. All unverified content gone. They should have been doing it for the last 15 years

Agree with this. In this day and age when sexual content is so casually made, it should not be allowed to be hosted online without some sort of verification.

seamus

silverharp wrote: »

imagine being the guy that had to review them all to see if they could stay or have to go

I think they basically just purged all unverified uploaders.

This is one of those issues that is layered with loads of different issues.

It's good that Pornhub has been forced to clean up its submissions policies.

It's bad that two payment processors have the power to act as pseudo legislators in this regard. This should have been done because the law required it.

It's bad that Pornhub has been the focus of this, but Facebook and other social media are being ignored despite being far worse proliferators of child and abuse porn.

Gruffalux

seamus wrote: »

I think they basically just purged all unverified uploaders.

This is one of those issues that is layered with loads of different issues.

It's good that Pornhub has been forced to clean up its submissions policies.

It's bad that two payment processors have the power to act as pseudo legislators in this regard. This should have been done because the law required it.

It's bad that Pornhub has been the focus of this, but Facebook and other social media are being ignored despite being far worse proliferators of child and abuse porn.

I agree with the first bits. Generally.
The last paragraph - I have not heard Facebook and other social media are FAR worse proliferators of child porn, that is terrible. It has to be stopped.
But Pornhub was knowingly monetising it. Its unbelievable what people will watch. One hears of village shops in India selling gang rape videos from under the counter. To me Pornhub has been doing the same from a glossier- looking village shop.

humberklog

Gruffalux wrote: »

Heh. No. I'm a lady and rape sex is not my thing.

Plenty of ladies enjoy rape sex videos.


I always thought Pornhub was a bit vanilla, as a poster above says it looks like a purge on unverified posters.

seamus

Gruffalux wrote: »

I agree with the first bits. Generally.
The last paragraph - I have not heard Facebook and other social media are FAR worse proliferators of child porn, that is terrible. It has to be stopped.

I say "Facebook", but including Facebook assets like WhatsApp and Instagram.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mnunez/2019/11/13/facebook-instagram-child-porn-removal-mark-zuckerberg-ook-and-instagram-was-wider-than-believed/

The "dodgy counter porn" analogy is apt, but it's only tip of the iceberg. Public platforms like Pornhub aren't used for sharing the more violent and explicit stuff; only the exploitative stuff that can be passed off as legit at first glance.

I accept Pornhub's argument that they get excessive focus from pearl-clutchers because of the nature of their business.
But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have to clean up their act too. We don't ignore burglaries just because there are murders happening too.

CtevenSrowder

humberklog wrote: »

Plenty of ladies enjoy rape sex videos.


I always thought Pornhub was a bit vanilla, as a poster above says it looks like a purge on unverified posters.

The problem was of legitimate rape videos, not consenting BDSM.

RobbieTheRobber

Gruffalux wrote: »

A comparison. I often hear it said that if you smoke weed, take drugs (which I don't) you are complicit in a savage industry that causes death and poverty and violence etc. But it is not said much that if you get your sexual release watching content on a website that hosted up to 2 days ago a huge amount of rape videos and abuse of underage and unconscious or even kidnapped people, you are not at all complicit. I wonder why Pornhub has gotten such a free pass for so many years?

Drugs and porn and Oil, chocolate, coffee, shiny diamonds, the raw materials that make up your new shiny phone and etc etc.
A lot of industries built on the pain and suffering of other people.
But yeah people who take drugs and watch porn those are the real bad guys in the world lets lock all them up first.

Gruffalux

seamus wrote: »

I say "Facebook", but including Facebook assets like WhatsApp and Instagram.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mnunez/2019/11/13/facebook-instagram-child-porn-removal-mark-zuckerberg-ook-and-instagram-was-wider-than-believed/

The "dodgy counter porn" analogy is apt, but it's only tip of the iceberg. Public platforms like Pornhub aren't used for sharing the more violent and explicit stuff; only the exploitative stuff that can be passed off as legit at first glance.

I accept Pornhub's argument that they get excessive focus from pearl-clutchers because of the nature of their business.
But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have to clean up their act too. We don't ignore burglaries just because there are murders happening too.

Agree generally but you seem to be trying to walk a line where you do not want to come across as prohibitive - and I can actually understand that. Porn will always exist. And maybe even always HAS to exist. That is a big topic
But rape videos of anyone and especially minors are not the burglary equivalent in the murder to burglary hierarchy. They are much worse than burglary. In my opinion.