Pornhub Just Purged All Unverified Content From the Platform
www.vice.com
After changing its policies to ban unverified uploaders and Mastercard and Visa's decision to drop the platform entirely, Pornhub has removed millions of videos.

11.1 million (Out of about 14 million) to be more exact. Almost 80% of all their videos.

Isn’t my main porn site personally, but still pretty lame that all that amateur stuff is gone. Looks like it’s heading the way of Tumblr.

Just a reminder that Pornhub is worth nearly 3 billion dollars and easily could've afforded as big of a moderation team as they could've wanted lol.

Edit: Alright, this got dumber than I thought it would, so I'm leaving off with this:

I can't believe I have to say this, but it does not make someone a rapist or a pedophile to suggest that a multibillion dollar company, one responsible for a site where the public can upload things to it, can afford to have a moderation team.

Literally every site that allows public uploads. porn or otherwise, runs the risk of someone uploading something fucked up to it, that's why moderation teams exist in the first place. To find and remove such content.

Yes, it sucks ass that those mods would have to even glance at such things, but Pornhub is not some crazy unique special case here. Mods everywhere have to see fucked up shit before it can be removed to protect others.

Rule-breaking content has to verified that it is, indeed, breaking the rules. That's how moderation works.

I apologize for nothing.

Peace.

  • PermaculturalMarxist [they/them]
    3·
    4 years ago

    Wasn't this because there was a bunch of stolen content, revenge porn, and cp being posted and barely anything was done about it? I would say this is probably a good thing, even though the damage has mostly been done and MindGeek's monopoly status has been more or less completely consolidated.

        • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Accusing and spreading rumours about someone, usually calling them a federal agent, with no evidence to make people suspicious or uncomfortable. In the context of this post it could be calling someone a pedo because they disagree with you or something. I know it's Wikipedia, but this is a basic rundown

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad-jacketing

    • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
      16·
      4 years ago

      Sure, that stuff getting removed is good, but this Scorched Earth approach is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

      • PermaculturalMarxist [they/them]
        2·
        4 years ago

        Eh, if anything more pro-worker and anti-sex abuse measures could be taken. I personally don't consider the enjoyment and utility of a porn website to it's users to weigh anywhere near as much as the safety and material benefit to the people that work for it.

        • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
          12·
          4 years ago

          Or they could've just actually put in the effort of, ya know, moderating their content.

          But this is cheaper and easier, sooo...

          • Saint [he/him]
            7·
            4 years ago

            Removing videos of children being raped and revenge porn is obviously worth the cost of you having fewer options to jack it to, how is this even a question? You holding up the idea of some sort of imaginary perfect moderation system is just a distraction

            • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
              18·
              4 years ago

              No it isn't.

              Pornhub has far more than enough money to do so, it's a valid criticism.

              You're acting like literally half their videos were child/revenge/etc. porn, when in reality an average moderation team likely would've taken care of the problem and it wouldn't have gotten to this point in the first place.

                • anthm17 [he/him]
                  2·
                  4 years ago

                  Yeah, there has been multiple stories over the years about the reviewers for google.

                  It's fucking awful. You see the worst shit imaginable constantly. People burn out and end up with PTSD.

                • AStonedApe [they/them]
                  11·
                  4 years ago

                  What should ChapoChat do to prevent CP from being uploaded? Maybe we should follow Pornhub's lead and ban non-verified users from uploading pictures/videos.

                • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                  15·
                  4 years ago

                  I'll ask you the same question:

                  Technically child porn can be uploaded to Youtube too.

                  Should all videos from unverified users be taken down from there as well?

                    • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                      15·
                      4 years ago

                      Bet you a million dollars their algorithms don't catch all of them.

                      So my question stands: Should all those millions of videos of people doing absolutely nothing wrong still get nuked?

                        • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                          14·
                          4 years ago

                          I am not "defending rape/CP" for thinking that a multibillion dollar company can afford a moderation team. You're being absolutely ridiculous.

                          And once again: I wish.

                          • Saint [he/him]
                            6·
                            4 years ago

                            Can afford a moderation team? Yes. Can afford the magical omniscient moderation team that would be required to prevent videos of child porn and revenge porn to be available for anything between hours and forever? No

                            • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                              11·
                              4 years ago

                              Fucked up content can theoretically be uploaded to countless places on the internet where the vast majority of it's average content is inoffensive.

                              Should literally all of them be purged of everything they've ever had because of that?

                              • Saint [he/him]
                                4·
                                4 years ago

                                I'm more interested in how they deal with real child porn than theoretical child porn

                            • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                              15·
                              4 years ago

                              You: Millions of innocent people, uploaders and wankers alike, should be collectively punished for the actions of a minority of bad actors when it could have been easily avoided entirely.

                                • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                                  12·
                                  4 years ago

                                  You have to at least see that something breaks the rules before you remove it for breaking said rules, that's literally how all moderating works you fucking dumbass.

                                  • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
                                    4·
                                    4 years ago

                                    If the video IS an underaged girl but there is no way to verify that, they should just keep it up? Is that your solution?

                                  • Saint [he/him]
                                    4·
                                    4 years ago

                                    Yeah that's his point. It's a shortcoming of the moderation approach that you're advocating for that doesn't exist with the verified user approach that he's advocating for

                                    • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                      7·
                                      4 years ago

                                      So you would favor this approach for all video/picture uploading sites?

                                            • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                              4·
                                              4 years ago

                                              I'm not sure, but I don't see how it's relevant to your argument. Moderating pictures/videos for CP is unethical, so we need to find another way; your proposed solution is only allowing verified users to upload. Is that a strategy you'd push for other sites, or only Pornhub?

                                                • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                  4·
                                                  4 years ago

                                                  So any site that allows uploading of nude pictures/videos, you'd favor this approach? How do we catch and remove pictures/videos of nudes on a site like ChapoChat without employing moderators that may accidentally see CP?

                                                    • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                      4·
                                                      4 years ago

                                                      filtering, weeding out porn

                                                      Who does this on ChapoChat currently? If it's humans, how is that any different than what OP proposed for Pornhub?

                                                        • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                          4·
                                                          4 years ago

                                                          If anything I'd avocate for expanding this decision to more sites. Clearly allowing anyone to upload to ChapoChat already had some negative repurcussions, so I'll ask again: why should ChapoChat not follow suit and ban un-verified users from uploading pictures/videos?

                                                          And I can see how being coerced into moderating CP by capital is worse than volunteering to do so. But why put volunteers in that position anyway if we can just fix the problem by only allowing verified users to upload in the first place?

                                                            • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                              3·
                                                              4 years ago

                                                              We don't allow porn, but how do we get rid of it when it is uploaded?

                                                                • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                                  3·
                                                                  4 years ago

                                                                  Right, and if what needs removing is CP then you've subjected humans to watching CP. Is that a problem? I'm not 100% sure, but it certainly makes me uncomfortable.

                                                                    • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                                      4·
                                                                      4 years ago

                                                                      The difference is huge in both scale and use case. This is all a volunteer effort, not a for-profit porn company.

                                                                      Profits or not, making human moderators look at CP in order to remove it is abhorrent. Why are we okay with that happening on our site?

                                                                      in what context are we even remotely near having cp be a grey area?

                                                                      I never said this was the case. Idk where you got that from, tbh.

                                                                        • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                                          3·
                                                                          4 years ago

                                                                          I totally understand why it's easier to determine which porn to remove on here because all porn is to be deleted. But if CP is uploaded to this site, a human will have to see it before it is deleted. Why is that not bad?

                                                                        • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                                          4·
                                                                          4 years ago

                                                                          Why does being smaller prevent us from implementing the same preventative tactic as Pornhub? If anything the fact that a billion dollar corporation is incapable of moderating their picture/video uploads is reason to think that we can't either.

                                                            • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                              4·
                                                              4 years ago

                                                              Are you just doing this for a sake of being a contrarian?

                                                              No.

                                                              Fuck off

                                                              Ok.

                                      • Saint [he/him]
                                        3·
                                        4 years ago

                                        Which sites are we taking about that have a problem with publically publishing child porn and revenge porn?

                                        • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                          2·
                                          4 years ago

                                          I wasn't talking about any specific sites, I just wondered if you think this strategy would benefit other sites, or only Pornhub?

                                          • Saint [he/him]
                                            3·
                                            4 years ago

                                            If there are other sites that have this problem then yes, probably. It's obviously always going to be a trade off- you can distribute illegal porn through the mail too but that doesn't mean we should ban the post.

                                            But I think this is veering off into whataboutery. Yes there's a million ways child porn can be distributed and we could argue the cost and benefit of each one. We'd probably disagree about some of them. But just because there exist examples which aren't clear cut doesn't mean pornhub isn't clear cut. You should be able to defend it on its own merits. And (other than wanting a magical omniscient moderation team), budoguy is making no attempt to do so.

                                            • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                              7·
                                              4 years ago

                                              Me asking you if this approach would benefit other sites is whatabouttery? Idk, seems like if you think this decision was materially benefitial to children then you'd advocate for it to be expanded to other sites. Is there a reason only Pornhub should do this, or ought we encourage other sites to follow suit?

                                              • Saint [he/him]
                                                2·
                                                4 years ago

                                                Did you read the rest of my comment? I think I made it pretty clear that there are some channels of distribution of child porn which I think would be worth the cost of closing and some I wouldn't. Other porn sites with a similar problem to pornhub, for example, I would support going to a verified user model. Whereas I wouldn't support banning email.

                                                What's your point exactly? We could probably have a long conversation and reason out exactly where I draw the line, but to what end? Are you willing to defend unverified content on pornhub on its own merits?

                                                • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                  6·
                                                  4 years ago

                                                  Are you willing to defend unverified content on pornhub on its own merits?

                                                  Until I hear a convincing argument I don't really know what to think. That's why I'm asking you questions and trying to understand the reasoning more.

                                                  I can't figure out why, if this decision is a good one, it shouldn't apply to YouTube or any other picture/video uploading sites as well.

                                                  • Saint [he/him]
                                                    2·
                                                    4 years ago

                                                    Okay, how much child porn is shared on YouTube?

                                                    • AStonedApe [they/them]
                                                      5·
                                                      4 years ago

                                                      Not sure. How much CP is required before we should be concerned?

                                                      • Saint [he/him]
                                                        4·
                                                        4 years ago

                                                        Before we should be concerned? Any.

                                                        Before they should go to verified users only? I don't know where exactly to draw the line, which is why you're trying to push the argument to that, instead of discussing whether or not pornhub is on the wrong side of that line. It's the same tactic as a libertarian arguing that sex with a 13 year old is fine because you can't justify why the age of consent should be exactly 18 instead of 17 years and 11 months, and it's very transparent.

                                                        That's why I called it whataboutery. Pornhub obviously has a much worse problem with rape, child porn and revenge porn than YouTube. It also obviously has a much smaller impact of going to verified only than YouTube. No amount of sophistry is going to make that less obvious to you, me and everyone reading this.

                        • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
                          1·
                          4 years ago

                          Uh, hold up, I tentatively agree that budoguy's priorities are not correct, but I absolutely disagree that Youtube should remove all content on the site that isn't verified. It's not a porn site. Removing small creators work because its inconvenient to moderate is incredibly fucked up. Youtube already has problems trying to make a computer do a job a human should do, lets not make that worse.

                          Porn sites are different though.

              • Saint [he/him]
                11·
                4 years ago

                Explain to me how long it's acceptable for a video of a teenager being raped to be on pornhub and how a moderation team would have prevented it from being up that long

                • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                  13·
                  4 years ago

                  Okay, you're clearly acting in bad faith with this loaded question bullshit lol.

                  It would've been taken down once it was noticed/pointed out as opposed to staying up for way longer til' their company exploded, how about that?

                  • Saint [he/him]
                    7·
                    4 years ago

                    Exactly, whereas with what they've done it's up for 0 time instead. Do you agree that's worth the sacrifice of you having fewer options to spank it to?

                    • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                      12·
                      4 years ago

                      Technically child porn can be uploaded to Youtube too.

                      Should all videos from unverified users be taken down from there as well?

                      • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
                        5·
                        4 years ago

                        You accuse others of bad faith arguments, but say horseshit like this. You can have algorithms that detect nudity and remove them automatically until a human verifies that it isn't nudity. You cannot make an algorithm that automatically removes underage nudity because there is no way for an AI to recognize a 16 year old from an 18 year old. Even humans can't always tell.

                            • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                              9·
                              4 years ago

                              For specific videos where it's impossible to confirm one way or the other, remove those videos.

                              No, that does not apply to 11 million videos.

                          • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
                            14·
                            4 years ago

                            It's never, ever going to work like that. I'm sorry you can't jerk off to rape victims and people of questionable age. The second I saw what looked like a 14/15 year old being forcibly penetrated by a hairy balding creep, reported it and saw that it remained up for at least a day after, I never visited pornhub again. It was probably still up until now. The fact that you're willing to risk these videos falling through the cracks so you can have more jerk off material is fucking gross.

                                  • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
                                    7·
                                    4 years ago

                                    So you can know with certainty that an unverified video uploaded by some random doesn't involve coercion? How? How do you know nobody was forced to make it? Idk if you know this but victims of sex trafficking often pretend to enjoy their "work", and presumably can be very convincing.

                                    • htz [she/her]
                                      ·
                                      4 years ago

                                      Verified accounts don't really solve that, either, even if they do cut down on the potential for it to happen. GirlsDoPorn was verified. The actual porn industry has plenty of fucked up stories of coercion and they're still able to post.

                                      It's a good move though kind of sad that the decision ultimately had nothing to do with the problematic content, and everything to do with money. All in all, it's just one website...there's a bunch of other tubesites with even less moderation than PornHub and this problem isn't going away any time soon.

                                      Granted, I personally stopped bothering with visiting Pornhub when the whole verified account thing came around in the first place and half the content became 90 second ads for major studios, or 'verified amateur' accounts posting "My Step Mom/Dad/Brother/Sister caught me masturbating and fucked me!!!" videos en masse.

          • mayor_pete_buttigieg [she/her]
            5·
            4 years ago

            Yeah let's make a bunch of underpaid workers spend hours a day watching weird pornography to try and decide what laws it breaks. A very moral position you've found there.