Senator Hassan Statement on Visa and Mastercard’s Announcement to Block Use of Cards on Pornhub

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) released the following statement after Visa and Mastercard announced they would block card charges on Pornhub.

“I am incredibly grateful to the survivors who shared their stories with Nicholas Kristof about how haunting it is to have images shared without consent and then to have essentially no recourse to get them taken down,” Senator Hassan said. “The news that Mastercard and Visa will no longer allow use of their cards on Pornhub is a major victory in our efforts to combat this exploitative and vicious activity across the internet, and all other companies should immediately reconsider the platforms that they do business with. While this is an important step, we still need to pass the bipartisan bills that I’m working on with Senator Josh Hawley to give individuals legal avenues to have images removed and seek justice.”

Earlier this week, Senators Hassan and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced bipartisan bills to allow individuals to seek compensation and relief in federal court for the non-consensual disclosure and transmission of intimate images of them, often referred to as “revenge porn,” and to create a private cause of action allowing victims of rape and sex trafficking, as well as individuals whose intimate images are distributed without their consent, to sue pornographic websites that profit off their exploitation.

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