Washington, DC (December 24, 2020) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) criticized Visa’s announcement that it would resume processing payments for MindGeek sites that “offer professionally produced adult studio content.”
“The dark truth of Visa’s rosy announcement is that the company prioritizes profits from incest, racist, violent, and teen-themed pornography, the most common themes in professionally-produced hardcore pornography, by reinstating a partnership with MindGeek, the world’s most prolific abuser of children, women, and men,” said Dawn Hawkins, senior vice president and executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“The majority of content produced by ‘mainstream’ pornography producers is illegal under federal obscenity law; and the pornography industry is not ‘subject to requirements.’ In fact, it is an industry that operates outside the bounds of the law. Visa’s decision furthers the lies that the pornography industry propagates and legitimizes this abusive industry.
“The U.S. Department of Justice aids the mainstream pornography industry by not enforcing federal obscenity law, and until it does its job, corporations like Visa will continue to prioritize dollars over people, turning a blind eye to the trauma and abuse suffered by thousands of victims whose abuse is recorded in pornography. Mainstream porn producers are not legitimate businesses as Visa prefers to believe. They are enterprises who lure, lie, and assault vulnerable people causing ongoing immense trauma and other harm. Visa must reconsider its decision to associate with MindGeek,” Hawkins said.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.
