PORNHUB will immediately ban unverified content from being posted on its website and ban users from downloading content after a New York Times writer claimed the site featured clips depicting child sex abuse.
The x-rated site announced a number of policy changes on Tuesday, including allowing only verified content partners or people with its "Model Program" to upload videos.
It will also launch a verification process in 2021 so "any user can upload content upon successful completion of identification protocol," a statement on the site reads.
Pornhub has also axed the ability for users to download content with the exception of paid downloads within its Model Program.
Users were able to download videos directly from the porn site, making it possible for content that had been removed to still be shared and possible uploaded again.
More than 120million users access the site daily, the platform said.
Pornhub said it will also expand its content moderation via a newly-established "Red Team" dedicated to self-auditing the website for potentially illegal material.
Similar to Twitter and Facebook, the platform will also release a transparency report next year detailing its content moderation results from 2020.
"Pornhub seeks to be fully transparent about the content that should and should not appear on the platform. This will make us the only adult content platform to release such a report," the company said.
The changes come a day after New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof claimed that Pornhub showed videos of child rape and sex with unconscious women.
Pornhub showed rape scenes, revenge porn, and other explicit materials taken without the participant's consent, according to Kristof.
"The issue is not pornography but rape," Kristof wrote. "Let's agree that promoting assaults on children or on anyone without consent is unconscionable."
He continued: "Its site is infested with rape videos. It monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags."
Kristof's op-ed prompted credit card giants Visa and Mastercard to investigate their relationship with the tenth most-visited website on the internet.
"We are aware of the allegations, and we are actively engaging with the relevant financial institutions to investigate, in addition to engaging directly with the site’s parent company, MindGeek," Visa told the AP Sunday.
The credit card company said if it found Pornhub to be violating the law or bank policies, it would be banned from accepting Visa payments.
Mastercard likewise said it would be looking into the site, promising "immediate action" if the allegations were true.
In a statement to The Sun, Pornhub denied such claims, saying it was "irresponsible and flagrantly untrue" to suggest it carried such images of child sexual abuse material.
"Eliminating illegal content and ridding the internet of child sexual abuse material is one of the most crucial issues facing online platforms today, and it requires the unwavering commitment and collective action of all parties," the statement read.
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