Instagram Shuts Down Pornhub's Account
Instagram has suspended Pornhub's verified social media account.
Before its removal, the adult site's Instagram account had 13.1 million followers and a collection of more than 6,200 posts—including nonpornographic videos and images, according to Variety(Opens in a new window).
It did, however, "directly [promote] pornography," according to Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which lobbied Instagram to remove Pornhub's account. The page also reportedly featured Reels espousing the benefits of being an erotic performer.
"Instagram was right to remove Pornhub from its platform for violating its community standards given the increasing reports of Pornhub hosting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), sex trafficking, filmed rape, and non-consensual videos and images," Hawkins said in a statement(Opens in a new window).
"Instagram served as a distribution partner with this criminal enterprise, helping to push millions to their website, including children," she continued. "We are grateful that Instagram has heard the voices of sexual abuse survivors who have been personally harmed by Pornhub's insatiable appetite for profit."
This is the latest blow to Pornhub, whose advertising arm TrafficJunky was cut off last month from accepting payments from Mastercard and Visa. The financial firms previously suspended credit card services in December 2020, after Pornhub was found to be circulating child pornography and sex-trafficking videos. The freeze also covers affiliated advertising services with Porhub parent company MindGeek.
In June, following an investigation by the New Yorker(Opens in a new window) (which suggested Pornhub hosted nonconsensual videos and CSAM for years), MindGeek CEO Feras Antoon and
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