Pornhub has been in a very strange situation ever since a New York Times report published in December accused the company of making money off of child exploitation, revenge porn, and other illegal content with its lax policies. Now, the company is trying to get a grip on the situation — it will use third-party company Yoti to verify the identities of users who upload content to the platform.
Shortly after the NYT report was released, Pornhub banned all uploads from unverified users and blocked users from downloading videos. It then removed millions of videos from its platform, all uploaded by unverified users and non-partners. The website now only accepts uploads from members of its Model Program, namely studio partners and verified users.
Anyone who wants to join the program will have to verify their identity through Yoti, which requires applicants to submit a current photo and a government- certified ID . Yoti is a London- based company , and the company says it can only view data submitted by individuals for up to seven days while it verifies that their photo matches the one on their government ID using facial recognition software . After that, it encrypts the information so that the company itself can no longer see it.
Additionally, Pornhub says its parent company MindGeek has expanded its moderation efforts with human moderators dedicated to reviewing every upload. It also recently launched a Trusted Flagging Program, which gives 40 nonprofits dedicated to child safety online the power to flag anything they believe violates the site’s Terms of Service. Once a video is flagged, it will be “taken down” to prevent it from spreading as quickly as possible, in case it contains truly illegal content , and then it will be reviewed.
Information source: engadget.com
