Visa’s CEO hits back at claims the company facilitated the spread of child porn

Visa slams the accusations that the company facilitated the spread of child pornography by continuing to grant payments to Pornhub, operated by MindGeek, following a judge refused Visa’s request to be excused from a child porn lawsuit.

‘Let me be clear: Visa condemns sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, and child sexual abuse,’ Visa CEO Alfred F. Kelly said in a Thursday statement. ‘Our rules explicitly and unequivocally prohibit the use of our products to pay for content that depicts nonconsensual sexual behavior or child sexual abuse.’

Kelly’s statement comes nearly a week after US District Judge Cormac Carney in California denied Visa’s request to be dismissed from a case where 34 women who said that Pornhub had hosted videos of them being sexually assaulted or abused as minors without their consent.

The judge found that ‘Visa knew that MindGeek’s websites were teeming with monetized child porn.’

Kelly said that he ‘strongly’ disagrees with the judge’s decision and is ‘confident’ in Visa’s position. He further claimed that Visa ‘suspended sites that contained user-generated content in December 2020.’

‘Despite what you have read in recent days, you cannot use your Visa card on Pornhub,’ Kelly said.

In light of the judge’s ruling on Friday, Visa has also suspended acceptances of MindGeek’s go-to advertising company, TrafficJunky, and other advertising services on Pornhub and MindGeek-affiliated sites.

Visa will be accepted at MindGeek studios for legal adult entertainment only, according to Kelly.

The lawsuit filed by nearly three dozen women in June 2021, accuses Pornhub of profiting off of videos posted without their consent, which feature revenge porn and rape.

Of the 34 women, 14 were underage when the videos were uploaded and another 14 were victims of convicted sex criminals. The women reside throughout the US, UK, Thailand, and Canada.

The lawsuit alleges that Mindgeek ‘is also one of the largest human trafficking ventures in the world. And it is likely the largest non-regulatory repository of child pornography in North America and well beyond.’

‘This is a case about rape, not pornography. It is a case about the rape and sexual exploitation of children.’

The lead plaintiff said that when she was 13 in 2014, her boyfriend uploaded a sexually explicit video of her to Pornhub without her knowledge or consent.

The video was titled ’13-Year Old Brunette Shows Off For the Camera’ and garnered 400,000 views before the girl learned of it, according to court filings.

After the video’s publication, the girl suffered harassment and bullying, dropped out of school, attempted suicide, and became addicted to heroin, the suit alleges.

The plaintiff’s lead attorney Michael Bowe previously told DailyMail.com: ‘The court’s holding that our detailed complaint adequately pleads Visa was engaged in a criminal conspiracy to monetize child porn means Visa and other credit card companies are finally going to face the civil and perhaps criminal consequences of this unconscionable and illegal activity.’

The porn giant faces growing backlash since the New York Times published an article in December 2020 which accused the porn website of posting illegal content online, including child pornography and rape videos. These claims were denied.

Visa along with Mastercard, came under scrutiny in December 2020 when the case came to light, and billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman pressured the companies to halt their services to Visa.

Ackman slammed Visa on Tuesday following Judge Carney’s ruling to not remove Visa from the case.

‘Visa’s conduct here is inexcusable, likely to cause the company incalculable financial and reputational damage,’ Ackman said in a tweet.

While Visa says it has removed the approval of payments on the sites, the company allegedly resumed processing payments after MindGeek claimed they deleted millions of user-uploaded videos.

Carney said in his ruling: ‘Visa made the decision to continue to recognize MindGeek as a merchant, despite its alleged knowledge that MindGeek monetized child porn.’

‘The court can comfortably infer that Visa intended to help MindGeek monetize child porn,’ wrote Carney.

American Express doesn’t provide payments to porn websites.

Meanwhile, two top Pornhub executives resigned in June after the company was accused of hosting nonconsensual videos for years, including with minors.

Pornhub-owner MindGeek announced on June 21 that Chief Executive Officer Feras Antoon and Chief Operating Officer David Tassillo have resigned after more than a decade running the adult website company. 

‘Antoon and Tassillo leave MindGeek’s day-to-day operations after more than a decade in leadership positions with the company,’ the company said in a statement. ‘MindGeek’s executive leadership team will run day-to-day operations on an interim basis, with a search underway for replacements.’

The news came days after The New Yorker reported the company failed to address videos of non-consenting individuals on its websites. 

A spokesperson for MindGeek said the executives’ stepping down was planned since early 2022, adding that both Antoon and Tassillo will remain shareholders of the company.