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.

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