Mastercard investigating Pornhub over report site hosts child abuse videos, threatens ‘immediate action’ if accusations are true

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.

“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.”

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