FinTech: Mastercard, Visa, Discover Suspend The Use Of Their Cards on Pornhub

Pornhub is accused of displaying videos of child abuse and non-consensual violence.
A Bloomberg report said Discover (NYSE: DFS) had joined Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Visa (NYSE: V) in blocking the use of its cards on adult-content site Pornhub.com.
A New York Times earlier this month accused Pornhub of showing videos of child abuse and rape. Pornhub has denied that it permits material on its website depicting child sexual abuse. (Bloomberg)
Mastercard
In a statement Thursday, Mastercard said its investigations had confirmed violations of its standards that prohibit unlawful content on the site.
“We instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance,” the company said.
It will also continue to investigate this menace on other websites, it confirmed. (PaymentsSource)
Visa
Visa too put the brakes on the use of its cards on Pornhub.
“At Visa, we are vigilant in our efforts to stamp out illegal activity on our network. We encourage our financial institution partners to regularly review their merchants’ compliance with our standards on this and other platforms,” the company said.
Long-standing demand from anti-porn groups
In May this year, the BBC said it had seen a letter signed by more than 10 anti-porn campaigners and campaign groups. The letter alleged that porn sites “eroticize sexual violence, incest, and racism” and stream content that features child sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
The signatories sent the letter to 10 major credit card companies, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. They called for an immediate blockade of payment processing for porn sites.
“We in the international child advocacy and anti-sexual exploitation community are demanding financial institutions to critically analyze their supportive role in the pornography industry, and to cut ties with them,” Haley McNamara, the director of the UK-based International Centre on Sexual Exploitation, told the BBC.
Pornhub responded by saying that the latter was factually wrong and also “intentionally misleading.”
At the time, Mastercard confirmed to the BBC that they were investigating the allegations in the letter. They also would terminate the connections of porno sites to its network if illegal activity by a cardholder was confirmed.
Related Story: Paypal Blocks Payments to PornHub Models; Cryptos See Opportunity

Latest Alternative Investment News

FinTech: China Tightens Antitrust Regulatory Screws On Fintechs
The People’s Bank of China published a draft set of rules on Wednesday for anti-trust regulation of the non-bank payment providers in the fintech sector. The draft is in the…

Digital Assets: BlackRock Dips Its Toes In Bitcoin Waters
Filings out Wednesday show that the BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities Portfolio and BlackRock Global Allocation Fund may invest in cash-settled bitcoin futures, among other assets. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world’s…

Artificial Intelligence: AI Helping Manage Wind Farms By Forecasting Wind Conditions
AI is playing an increasingly bigger role in the management of wind energy, wind farms, and the maintenance of wind turbines through machine condition monitoring systems. Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) predicts…

Alternative Investments/ESG: Harvest Portfolios Launches The Harvest Clean Energy ETF
Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. completed last week the initial offering of Class A Units of the Harvest Clean Energy ETF (TSE: HCLN). The units of the ETF commenced trading on…