BREAKING: Credit Card Companies Still Funding Pornhub via MindGeek’s TrafficJunky
[UPDATE – 12/15/2020] The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) received confirmation from Visa executives on December 15, 2020, that that their “financial institution partners who serve MindGeek have suspended processing of Visa payments for Pornhub and its affiliated merchants pending completion of [Visa’s] on-going investigation.” NCOSE has not yet heard back from Mastercard. It…
Pornhub Falling: Visa and Mastercard Cut Ties with MindGeek’s Cash Cow
With Visa and Mastercard’s closely-spaced announcements about cutting ties with Pornhub (Visa’s technically only committed to suspending payment processing for Pornhub pending an outcome in Visa’s own investigation) on December 10, 2020, the façade of impunity surrounding MindGeek’s internationally known and inherently exploitative cash cow has begun crumbling in earnest. Visa and Mastercard have made…
Netflix Promotes Sexualization of Children, Racist Stereotypes with New Film ‘Cuties’
Netflix, the global, mega-popular streaming service, recently came under fire for the reveal of their newest film acquisition: Cuties, a French film dedicated to the hypersexualization of young children. In the now-updated poster and movie description, 11 year old girls pose in tight, revealing outfits on a glittering stage, with one girl even posing on…
Exposing the Exploitative Realities of Sugar Dating
During a recent webinar as a part of its Now & Next Speaker Series, World Without Exploitation (WorldWE) invited Tamar Arenson and Megan Lundstrom to discuss the “Bitter Truth of Sugaring” and the dangers of being a sugar baby. Both Megan and Tamar agreed that, while sugaring is packaged as a consenting relationship with some…
Join with NCOSE to Increase Internet Safety in 2020
*This blog is the second in a series for Internet Safety Month 2020. The first part covers current actions NCOSE supports in order to fight for internet safety. This second part covers progress that still needs to be made on this front.* As designated by the U.S Senate, June is National Internet Safety Month in…
Amazon Hosting “Humor” Books About Child Sexual Abuse Grooming
One Reddit user was horrifyingly on the dot about the potential for a certain book series sold on Amazon — comprised of books with titles like Spank the Monkey Lends a Hand and Put Tony’s Nuts in Your Mouth! — accidentally ending up in a children’s library. While these books are technically marketed for adults, there…
VICTORY! TikTok Updated Its Safety Features. Here’s How They Work.
Just a few weeks after our public announcement about TikTok being named to the 2020 Dirty Dozen List, the social media company announced that they would soon begin rolling out improvements to TikTok’s safety features—including some updates we had been advocating for them to make! Although there are still several safety improvements they need to…
It’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Steam is Still Selling Sexual Assault Games
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which is an important awareness campaign highlighting the prevalance of sexual assault in our society. Here at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, not only do we recognize sexual assault and violence as a pervasive problem but we also recognize that pornography and pop culture – whether in the…
VICTORY! Updates to Netflix Parental Controls, Explained
Netflix, the at-home streaming monolith, recently announced some key changes to their parental controls. After the National Center on Sexual Exploitation named Netflix to its 2019 and 2020 Dirty Dozen Lists due to severe issues with its parental controls, in addition to the graphic sexual content being produced by the company, we are excited to…
Netflix’s “The Witcher” is Yet Another Example of Exploitation in Entertainment
“The Witcher is known for its sex,” says The Decider (an online media outlet owned by the New York Post). For the uninitiated, The Witcher is a TV show based on a video game which is being produced and hosted by Netflix, a corporation currently listed on our 2020 Dirty Dozen List. The first season…