It comes after widespread backlash against the site in recent months, following criticism of the nature of some of the content on the site.

According to numerous reports, Pornhub has taken the step of deleting all unverified content on its website. It follows widespread criticism of the platform’s hosting of videos of child sexual abuse.

On December 4, The New York Times shared an opinion piece that followed the lives of child sexual abuse victims and subsequently Visa and Mastercard launched investigations into their relationship with the adult entertainment platform. By December 8 they banned all unverified users from uploading and downloading as well as increasing the moderation of the site.

It resulted in the number of videos on the site dropping from 13.5 million to around 4.7 million. The new verification policy will launch early next year and in a statement the website said:

“As part of our policy to ban unverified uploaders, we have now also suspended all previously uploaded content that was not created by content partners or members of the Model Program. This means every piece of Pornhub content is from verified uploaders, a requirement that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter have yet to institute.“

Pornhub’s decision to stop unverified users uploading videos will reduce the amount of inappropriate and illegal content living on the site, however, it is unlikely to stop it completely. In 2020 we have seen content creators pivoting and moving to OnlyFans where they can have more autonomy over their bodies and their bank balance.

However, more recently in Ireland, thousands of explicit images of women and underage girls were shared without consent. It was part of a huge leak orchestrated by a number of men in a discord server. You can read about what Image-Based Sexual Abuse is here and how we can stop it.

You can read Pornhub’s statement here.