FILE PHOTO: A Visa credit card is seen on a computer keyboard in this picture illustration taken September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/Illustration
December 23, 2020
(Reuters) -Visa Inc said on Wednesday it would allow usage of its cards on Pornhub-owner MindGeek’s platforms that host professionally produced adult studio content, but would continue to decline processing payments coming from Pornhub itself.
Visa said its ban remains in effect for those websites that host user-generated content, the most popular being Pornhub, until an ongoing investigation was completed.
“Following a thorough review, Visa will reinstate acceptance privileges for MindGeek sites that offer professionally produced adult studio content,” a Visa spokesperson said.
Visa, like rival Mastercard, had suspended processing payments on Pornhub earlier this month after a New York Times report found unlawful content on its website.
Pornhub had denied the allegations, calling the two-biggest payment processing networks’ decision “disappointing.”
Days after the Times report Pornhub said it had pulled content uploaded by unverified users from its platform and would only allow certain partner accounts to upload content.
Pornhub said on Wednesday it was disappointed and that it has actively worked to employ extensive measures to protect the platform from such content, including employing a vast team of human moderators manually reviewing every single upload, a thorough system for flagging and removing illegal material.
Mastercard has already permanently terminated the use of its cards on Pornhub after its investigation confirmed the presence of illegal content on the platform.
(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)