Pornhub deleted a ton of content and underwent some really big changes last December after New York Times reported that its lax application of its policy allowed it to monetize videos of rape and child exploitation. Now the website has published its very first transparency report which highlights its moderation practices and reports received from January 2020 to December 2020. Apparently, Pornhub removed 653,465 pieces of content that violated its guidelines. These include videos depicting a minor and anything that isn’t consensual like revenge pornography and attempted doxxing. It also removed videos containing animal damage, violence, and prohibited bodily fluids.
The website also explained how it deals with child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Pornhub detects CSAM on its website through moderation efforts and from reports submitted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The center submitted a total of over 13,000 potential CSAMs last year, with 4,171 being unique reports and the rest being duplicates.
As for how it moderates content before posting, Pornhub said it uses multiple detection technologies. In 2020, it analyzed all previously uploaded videos against YouTube’s CSAI Match, the video platform’s proprietary technology for identifying images of child sexual abuse. He also scanned all the photos previously submitted against Microsoft PhotoDNA, which was designed for the same purpose. Pornhub will continue to use both technologies to analyze all videos submitted to its platform. In addition, the website uses Google’s Content Safety API, MediaWise cyber fingerprint software (to analyze all new user downloads for previously identified offensive content) and Safeguard, its own fingerprint recognition technology. image intended to fight against both CSAM and non-consensual videos.
In February, the company also announced that it was using a third-party company to verify identities creators. This chose to finish all unverified downloads and ban downloads after NOW article and shortly after Mastercard and Visa cut payments at Pornhub. Visa started accepting payments for some of MindGeek’s (Pornhub’s parent company) adult sites again featuring professionally produced videos on Christmas, but Pornhub itself remained banned.