Pornhub will no longer let users download videos or unverified users upload videos, after a NYT report alleged that it was hosting videos of rape, underage sex
NEW YORK (AP) — Pornhub said Tuesday it was halting unverified users from uploading video material after a report alleged …
Associated Press
Context & Ripple Effects
The policy change follows a [[a:961013|purge of unverified accounts that cut Pornhub's library from 13.5M videos to 7.2M within days]], and it was followed in February 2021 by a second round of reforms — expanded human moderation, a transparency report, and biometric uploader verification — as the site worked to contain the fallout from the NYT allegations.
Internal documents cited in court filings later indicated Pornhub had some 706,000 flagged videos pending removal as of May 2020, many taken down only after repeated reports — the backdrop against which the upload restrictions were announced.
First-order effects
Unverified uploaders immediately lose the ability to post or distribute content, shrinking Pornhub's supply pipeline to verified creators and partners only.
Users lose download functionality, ending offline redistribution of hosted videos — the mechanism most cited in non-consensual reposting complaints.
Second-order effects
Rival tube sites that still accept anonymous uploads inherit displaced traffic and unverified inventory, raising the odds they become the next targets of press and regulator scrutiny.
Payment processors and advertisers, already sensitive to the NYT coverage, gain a concrete compliance benchmark to demand from every adult platform, not just Pornhub.
Third-order effects
If verification-plus-transparency becomes the sector norm, anonymous-upload platforms are structurally disadvantaged, pushing the industry toward KYC-gated distribution similar to what age-verification laws have since forced on access — Pornhub's later exits from Texas and other states show regulators converging on identity checks from both ends.
Transparency reports turn moderation volume into an auditable metric; Pornhub's own reporting later showed takedowns falling 98% year-over-year once uploader verification was in place, a template other UGC platforms under DSA obligations may be pushed to follow.
The trend: User-generated video platforms are being pushed from open uploading toward identity-verified, auditable publishing as press scrutiny and regulation converge on the same fix.
Pornhub just announced huge changes: a.) allow uploads only from verified users; b.) no downloads; c.) improvements in moderation. Initial take: A great deal depends on how responsibly Pornhub implements these, and it hasn't earned my trust at all, but these seem significant.
I'd add that continued monitoring and pressure will be necessary, and that we should also widen the lens to look at other companies. XVideos already has a bigger audience than Pornhub, and fewer scruples, and they should be forced to adopt similar measures — and make them work.
Kudos @NickKristof good to know solid journalism can still make a difference in this age of media distrust, “alternative” truths and disinformation!! #TheWorldNeedsJournalists https://twitter.com/...
Literally the entire time I've been reporting on the porn industry creators have been asking for more stringent community guidelines and upload restrictions...but of course it took Nicholas Kristof smearing Pornhub in the NYT to actually affect some change https://www.vice.com/..…
A special thanks to those young women and men who shared their stories and documentation about Pornhub, because they didn't want other kids to endure what they had suffered. It was their courage, their stories, that made this happen. Teens like Serena: https://www.nytimes.com/...
Still needs regulation. It shouldn't take national media attention to shame companies into doing something about child rape on their site. https://twitter.com/...
do note that pornhub is not making these changes because they care about pro performers, amateur content creators, or assault survivors. it's because of perception, money, lawsuits, and getting more public scrutiny in general https://www.vice.com/...
Nick's latest report, & others over the past year inc the brave testimony of @RoseKalemba (who was one of the first to go on record)- Pornhub have announced a series of changes. In the times I've reported on PH they have been rude & dismissive via email so this is interesting. ht…
This is exactly the kind of positive change a free press empowers. @NickKristof @nytimes this is an amazing update, following your devastating investigation. https://twitter.com/...
Here's Pornhub's announcements of the new measures: https://help.pornhub.com/... A great deal will also depend on whether past content, already on the site, is vetted or removed.
If these are efficacious measures, it will only be some matter of time before pornhub's users move to a site which does not have them. Pornography, by its very nature, elevates the sexual value of the body over the whole dignity of the person—it is fundamentally at odds with... h…
Never thought I'd say this but some mainstream platforms could learn from Pornhub's new approach to stop image-based abuse from being shared https://twitter.com/...
Glad to see this policy change. Hope people see that a lot of pain and wrongdoing could have been avoided if people simply listened to sex workers from the beginning. Solidarity with those affected, always. https://www.vice.com/...
This is an extraordinary set of announced changes (if they pan out) at one of the world's most powerful tech companies. Congrats @NickKristof. This is what great journalism can do! https://twitter.com/...