Washington, DC (October 19, 2021) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) has urged Visa, Discover, and other credit cards to follow Mastercard’s lead in instituting common-sense rules for any sites hosting sexually explicit material – many of which have been proven to also contain child sex abuse material, sex trafficking, and non-consensual content. NCOSE, along with interdisciplinary survivors and advocates, has been advocating for improved responsibility and increased oversight by the financial industry regarding pornographic content since early 2020.
“It is past time, but not too late, for Visa and Discover to reject sexual abuse and exploitation and follow Mastercard’s lead in requiring that age and ‘unambiguous’ consent of anyone who appears in pornographic videos, images, or livestreaming is documented, and that effective controls and reporting mechanisms are instituted to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content that proliferates on these exploitative sites,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“Mastercard has taken the proper steps to prevent it from profiting from videos with child sexual abuse material, sexual assault, rape, and non-consensually shared content. This kind of content has been found on tube sites like Pornhub and XVideos, and subscription sites like OnlyFans.
“By requiring that individuals featured in content are consenting adults, Mastercard is taking an important step to confront, and hopefully end, the horrific abuse on sites hosting pornography. Visa and Discover must also institute these important, common-sense measures, and Mastercard must ensure these new policies are robustly enforced,” Hawkins said.
