Following Senator Hassan’s Bipartisan Bills Over Nonconsensual Sexual Videos, Pornhub Announces Changes and Credit Card Companies Block Charges on Pornhub

WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced bipartisan bills to help victims of so-called “revenge porn” sue their perpetrators and to empower survivors of rape and sex trafficking – as well as those whose images are distributed without their consent – to sue pornographic websites including Pornhub. Their bills followed comprehensive reporting from the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof about the immense pain and difficulties of children and individuals whose videos are non-consensually shared on Pornhub.

Following the Senators’ bills and Kristof’s reporting, credit card companies announced that they would block charges on Pornhub. Then earlier this week, Pornhub removed millions of videos uploaded by unverified users to address concerns over non-consensually shared videos, including videos of children.

“A survivor is re-traumatized when a video of their assault is published on the internet, and they often have no recourse to get the video taken down or hold the perpetrator accountable. This adds to their immeasurable and often lifelong pain. Yet for too long, websites like Pornhub have profited off of the nonconsensual sharing of images and videos,” said Senator Hassan. “I am encouraged by the actions of credit card companies to put pressure on Pornhub, as well as recent changes that Pornhub has made. Senator Hawley and I will continue to work across the aisle to hold companies that are responsible for facilitating the nonconsensual sharing of images accountable and provide more legal options for survivors.”

Senator Hassan will continue to press for accountability and to build support for her bipartisan bills, which you can read more about here and here.  

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