MONTREAL – In its continuing response to mounting criticism – and the decision by VISA and Mastercard to suspend handling transactions for the site – Pornhub announced Sunday that it has now also “suspended all previously uploaded content that was not created by content partners or members of the Model Program.” The decision to suspend all content from unverified uploaders has the effect of removing millions of videos from the platform.

“This means every piece of Pornhub content is from verified uploaders, a requirement that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter have yet to institute,” Pornhub added in a statement posted to the site’s blog.

Pornhub began its statement by saying “the safety of our community is our top priority,” noting that last week, the site “enacted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history.”

“We banned unverified uploaders from posting new content, eliminated downloads, and partnered with dozens of non-profit organizations, among other major policy changes,” the company said. Later in the statement, Pornhub added that “(l)eading non-profit organizations and advocacy groups acknowledge our efforts to date at combating illegal content have been effective.”

“Over the last three years, Facebook self-reported 84 million instances of child sexual abuse material,” Pornhub observed in its statement. “During that same period, the independent, third-party Internet Watch Foundation reported 118 incidents on Pornhub. That is still 118 too many, which is why we are committed to taking every necessary action.”

In its statement, Pornhub also opined that the site is “being targeted not because of our policies and how we compare to our peers, but because we are an adult content platform.”

“The two groups that have spearheaded the campaign against our company are the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (formerly known as Morality in Media) and Exodus Cry/TraffickingHub,” Pornhub stated. “These are organizations dedicated to abolishing pornography, banning material they claim is obscene, and shutting down commercial sex work. These are the same forces that have spent 50 years demonizing Playboy, the National Endowment for the Arts, sex education, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and even the American Library Association. Today, it happens to be Pornhub.”

Read the full statement on the Pornhub blog.