Pornhub.com has found itself in hot water after a New York Times investigation accused the site of being "infested" with child-abuse and rape-related videos. Even before this, the Pornhub.com shutdown row was going after over two million people signed the petition against the adult porn website to shut it down. The "Shut Down Pornhub and Hold Its Executives Accountable for Aiding Trafficking" petition aka #Traffickinghub campaign on www.change.org founded by Laila Mickelwait and powered by the anti-trafficking organization Exodus Cry. Petition Against XXX Website Pornhub Receives Two Million Signs Demanding The Porn Site To Shut Down for Sex Trafficking & Child Rape Videos. 

Pornhub said the claims were "irresponsible and flagrantly untrue". However, now Pornhub.com has said to verify & manage the content uploads and downloads videos. They have removed its download function and the verification feature will launch in the new year, it said. For now, uploads have been removed for all users except industry professionals. The company has also now issued a statement promising "major steps to further protect our community". Pornhub said it has banned uploads by unidentified users in an attempt to prevent "non-consensual material" and videos of children being sexually abused.

"Going forward, we will only allow properly identified users to upload content," the XXX website said in a statement yesterday. For now, "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."

Pornhub.com is facing scrutiny from Credit card giants Visa and Mastercard that said Sunday that they are investigating their business relationship with Pornhub after a prominent newspaper columnist alleged that the pornographic website shows videos of rape and underage sex. Pornhub did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The online payment service PayPal last year stopped processing payments to Pornhub, which is owned by the pornography conglomerate MindGeek. The columnist called out other card issuers for working with the site.

Pornhub.com has recently been banned in Thailand. The XXX porn lovers protested asking the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society for reasons behind the porn ban in the country. They blocked access to PornHub and 190 URL addresses linked to porn leaving hashtags like #SavePornhub and #HornyPower trending on Thai Twitter. The XXX website is also facing major allegations of hosting sex trafficking and child rape videos worldwide.

Recently, 22 women who were deceived and coerced by GirlsDoPorn.com owner Michael Pratt into performing sex acts on film that were subsequently uploaded to Pornhub.  GirlsDoPorn.com Trial Comes to an End; Verdict on the XXX Porn Website Scam to Come Soon.  While legally, porn websites such as pornhub.com, xVideos, xHamster, XNXX.com, YouPorn, HClips, NaughtyAmerica etc. follow certain processes when it comes to hiring their pornstars and the kind of porn videos that are uploaded on the site.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 10, 2020 05:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).