Pornhub Announces More New Security Measures

In the latest chapter of Pornhub’s post-scandal safety makeover, the company has announced another round of new measures to address accusations of abuse on the platform. According to a statement released Tuesday, the latest security updates will include an expansion of Pornhub’s human moderation team, an upcoming transparency report and the introduction of biometric technology to verify users who upload content to the site.

These updates follow a slate of new policy changes the company announced back in December, following a controversial New York Times report accusing Pornhub of allowing illegal videos of rape and underage sex to exist on the site. Previous security measures launched in the aftermath of the scandal included purging the platform of most of its content, restricting uploading permissions to verified users only, prohibiting downloads, and implementing new content moderation strategies. Also following the Times report, major payment processors including Visa and Mastercard cut ties with Pornhub, a move that has been widely criticized by sex workers and performers who claim the suspension threatens their bottom line.

In order to make good on its promise to restrict uploads to verified users only, Pornhub is now rolling out a new verification system using Yoti, a digital identity verification company. According to Tuesday’s statement, users seeking verification will have to produce a current photo and government-approved identification document, which Yoti will then verify “using secure biometric technology.”

Pornhub also announced a forthcoming transparency report, which will reportedly detail the company’s content moderation results from 2020, including the total number of reports filed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, “as well as other key details related to the trust and safety of the platform.”

According to Pornhub, this transparency report will be “the first of its kind among adult content platforms, setting the standard for transparency and accountability in the industry.”