Mastercard, Visa investigate Pornhub business relationship

Credit card giants Visa and Mastercard said Sunday that they are investigating their business relationship with Pornhub after a prominent newspaper columnist alleged that the pornographic website shows videos of rape and underage sex.

Nicholas Kristof, opinion columnist at The New York Times, wrote Friday that Pornhub carries rape scenes, revenge pornography and other examples of explicit video taken without consent of the participants. Pornhub did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The online payment service PayPal last year stopped processing payments to Pornhub, which is owned by the pornography conglomerate MindGeek. The columnist called out other card issuers for working with the site.

In response to Kristofs story, Visa and Mastercard said theyre investigating the matter.

We are aware of the allegations, and we are actively engaging with the relevant financial institutions to investigate, in addition to engaging directly with the sites parent company, MindGeek,” Visa said Sunday.

Visa added that if Pornhub is violating the law or bank policies, then the website will be prohibited from accepting Visa payments.

Meanwhile, Mastercard promised immediate action if the allegations are substantiated.

We are investigating the allegations raised in the New York Times and are working with MindGeeks bank to understand this situation,” Mastercard said in a statement.

American Express said company policy prohibits the Amex card from being used on digital adult content websites.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)