Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has joined MasterCard Inc. (NYSE:M) and Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in blocking users from using their credit cards to make payments on Pornhub. The move comes following allegations published in The New York Times on December 4, 2020, that the site has been showing child porn content and videos of non-consensual violence.
Pornhub has however refuted the Times claims stating that the assertions that the website was allowing material showing child abuse was untrue.
Discover joins payment processors in blocking Pornhub
Discover also announced the termination of acceptance of its cards to the site through a statement issued by its spokesperson Jon Drummond. The statement stated that the company requires its financial partners to monitor and prevent acceptance of cards at merchants allowing illegal or prohibited activities violating the company’s operating standards. Drummond further said that when they discover that a merchant is offering illegal activities they terminate acceptance of their cards.
MasterCard and Visa suspended Pornhub payment processing
Following the allegation, MasterCard instituted a probe into the claims against the porn site and established that they could be substantiated. In a statement, MasterCard stated that their investigation into the issue confirmed that there was a violation of its standards that prohibit unlawful content on their platform. As a result, the payments processor moved to terminate the use of its credit cards on Pornhub. MasterCard said that in line with its policies it has instructed all financial institutions connecting the site to its network to immediately terminate acceptance.
Visa also issued a similar statement saying that considering the illegal activity allegations they are terminating Pornhub’s acceptance privileges subject to completion of an on-going investigation. All financial institutions serving MindGeek the parent company of the site have suspended payments processing through Visa’s network.
Pornhub said that the move by the payment processors is disappointing considering the company had recently announced measures eliminating non-consensual activity or child abuse on the platform. The site said that the actions are depressing to several models who rely on the platform to make a living.