2025/12/10 by Margaret Y. MacDonald · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Psychology · Computer Science · #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology #Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/23268743.2025.2580673
This article analyses cultural, commercial and technical forces shaping content moderation on pornography platforms. Antipornography frameworks have unjustly cast adult sites as leading perpetrators circulating harmful and sexually abusive content. This framing encourages credit card companies and payment processors to treat porn platforms as high-risk merchants subject to stricter standards and oversight. To mitigate risk, these business partners frequently require use of algorithmic tools for content management. Governance by these private financial firms thus shapes porn platform moderation through both moral panic and automation. To make this dynamic legible, I examine Visa and Mastercard's demonetization of Pornhub in 2020 following a child sexual abuse material (CSAM) scandal. This case captures the range of anti-porn values, influential business partners and automated technologies shaping Pornhub moderation. I first introduce the controversy, detail ‘high-risk' terms for adult merchants and show how rules are interpreted and enforced by payment processors. Next, I review content moderation protocols on Pornhub, considering effects of these tools on porn and the stakes of this governing arrangement. I conclude arguing that interventions on porn platforms framed in service of public safety primarily serve private commercial interests – mitigating ‘reputational risk’ while entrenching other harms in content management.