Pornhub bans downloads, disables uploads from unidentified users; here's why

Pornhub said that they are taking 'major steps' to further protect their community.

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Pornhub, the world’s biggest porn site has announced to ban downloads and said that it will only allow the identified users to upload, a move which comes following the backlash over its content practices.

The adult entertainment website was recently the talk of the town after a Nicholas Kristof's NYT report which alleged that Pornhub carries rape scenes, revenge pornography and other examples of explicit video taken without consent of the participants. 

The allegations resulted in Pornhub banning downloads and taking other 'major steps' to further protect their community.

The company said, "At Pornhub, nothing is more important than the safety of our community. Our core values such as inclusivity, freedom of expression and privacy are only possible when our platform is trusted by our users. This is why we have always been committed to eliminating illegal content, including non-consensual material and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Every online platform has the moral responsibility to join this fight, and it requires collective action and constant vigilance"

They said that effective immediately, they have removed the ability for users to download content from Pornhub, with the exception of paid downloads within the verified Model Program. 

They added that only content partners and people within the Model Program will be able to upload content to Pornhub. 

"In the new year, we will implement a verification process so that any user can upload content upon successful completion of identification protocol," said Pornhub.

"We have worked to create comprehensive measures that help protect our community from illegal content. In recent months we deployed an additional layer of moderation. The newly established “Red Team” will be dedicated solely to self-auditing the platform for potentially illegal material. The Red Team provides an extra layer of protection on top of the existing protocol, proactively sweeping content already uploaded for potential violations and identifying any breakdowns in the moderation process that could allow a piece of content that violates the Terms of Service," the adult entertainment website said.

They added that while the list of banned keywords on Pornhub is already extensive, they will continue to identify additional keywords for removal on an ongoing basis. 

"We will also regularly monitor search terms within the platform for increases in phrasings that attempt to bypass the safeguards in place," said Pornhub.

In 2021, Pornhub will also release a 'Transparency Report' detailing their content moderation results from 2020. 

"This will identify not just the full number of reports filed with NCMEC, but also other key details related to the trust and safety of our platform. Much like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other tech platforms, 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," said Pornhub.