Pornhub Releases Its First Transparency Report

LOS ANGELES—Pornhub has issued a Transparency Report for 2020, outlining its content moderation processes and its efforts to combat offensive material, illegal content, child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and more. The first-ever such report issued by the platform, it covers all of last year and outlines such details as its automated detection technologies to help moderate content before it can be published. Among these are Microsoft’s PhotoDNA, which aids in finding and removing known images of CSAM. To read the full report, click here. Pornhub also uses Google's artificial intelligence technology Content Safety API, which is designed to help identify online CSAM. The site’s MediaWise, which is Vobile’s cyber “fingerprinting” software is another tool that scans all new user uploads in order to help prevent previously identified offending content from being re-uploaded. Along with other technologies, Pornhub also uses human content moderators to review content that gets uploaded to the platform before it becomes accessible to the public, thus preventing the uploading of materials that violate its Terms of Service and Related Guidelines. The site’s content moderation efforts are in alignment as well as go beyond the measures listed in the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse issued in March 2020, which is part of a coordinated effort by the U.S. Department of Justice as well as the governments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In 2020, Pornhub identified 653,465 pieces of content as potentially offending and consequently removed it globally for possibly infringing its Terms of Service and Related Guidelines. The report also notes that as part of its core values, the platform encourages all of its users to report or flag content that may violate its Terms of Service and Related Guidelines, to ensure the site remains free of offensive or illegal material. The platform also noted that its efforts include the spring 2020 establishment of its Trust and Safety Center as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of its users and clarify what the platform stands for and what it opposes.