Visa, Mastercard Freeze Card Use on Pornhub

Visa, Mastercard Freeze Card Use on Pornhub

[Update, 1 p.m.: Visa has also reportedly frozen their transactions through Pornhub, according to the New York Times.]

NEW YORK — Credit card giant Mastercard Inc. released a statement today saying it will not allow their cards to be used for payments on Pornhub.

“Our investigation over the past several days has confirmed violations of our standards prohibiting unlawful content on their site,” Mastercard said in the statement. “We instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance.”

Mastercard added that it will expand the investigation of “potential illegal content” to other websites.

Update: Later in the afternoon, Visa released their own version of the statement via Twitter:

Given the allegations of illegal activity, Visa is suspending Pornhub’s acceptance privileges pending the completion of our ongoing investigation. We are instructing the financial institutions who serve MindGeek to suspend processing of payments through the Visa network.

At Visa, we are vigilant in our efforts to stamp out illegal activity on our network, and we encourage our financial institution partners to regularly review their merchants’ compliance of our standards on this and other platforms.

The investigations by both credit card companies were prompted by a sensationalistic op-ed by Nicholas Kristof published last Friday by the New York Times demanding state censorship and financial strangulation of the adult tube site.

On Tuesday, Pornhub released updated guidelines for user-uploaded content.

XBIZ has reached out to Pornhub for comment and will continue updating this story as more information becomes available.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Tiffani Time Makes Her WIFEY Debut

Newly crowned XMA Creator Awards Rising Clip Creator Tiffani Time stars with her husband Benfit and Jax Slayher in the latest release from Vixen Media Group studio imprint WIFEY.

Karmen Karma Stars in Latest From Ricky's Room

Karmen Karma stars in the latest release from Ricky's Room, titled "A Long Time Cumming."

FSC Publishes Analysis of Federal Trade Commission Event Promoting AV

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has published an analysis of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) event held this week that promoted age verification among other forms of speech regulation.

Cubbi Thompson Makes Her Jules Jordan Debut

Cubbi Thompson has made her Jules Jordan debut alongside Lexington Steele in the studio's latest release.

Seth Gamble Drops Trailer for Upcoming Feature 'Once Upon a Time in the Valley'

Multi-XMAs winner Seth Gamble has released the trailer for his upcoming Wicked Pictures feature, "Once Upon a Time in the Valley."

Ryan Reid Stars in Latest From Brazzers

Ryan Reid stars with Damon Dice in “A Day in the Life,” from Brazzers.

Andylynn Payne Toplines Joey Silvera's 'Trans-Active 30'

Andylynn Payne headlines director Joey Silvera’s “Trans-Active 30” from Evil Angel.

Violet Myers, Megan Faith Star in Latest From Slayed

Reigning XMAs Premium Social Creator of the Year Violet Myers stars with Megan Faith in the latest release from Vixen Media Group studio imprint Slayed.

Coco Bae Returns to Brazzers

Coco Bae stars with Danny D. in the latest release from Brazzers, titled “The Cock Collector.”

GirlsDoPorn Owner Michael Pratt Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking

Michael Pratt, former owner of the rogue website GirlsDoPorn, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Thursday to sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking charges, according to a report by City News Service.

Show More