Porn sites: Visa and Mastercard demand verification of user identity and age

Anicet Mbida 06:54 am, October 15, 2021

From today, October 15, all porn sites around the world are going to have to verify the identity and age of both visitors and actresses and actors in the films.

And strangely, it is not a new law which imposes it but publishers of bank cards.

This is a directive from Visa and Mastercard.

Governments around the world have been trying to protect minors from these overly easy-to-access porn sites for years.

In France, it has been over a year since a law was passed.

But nothing has changed.

Always just click on the "I'm 18" button and anyone can rinse their eye.

The publishers of bank cards have decided to hit these sites in the wallet.

We remind you: Visa is 60% of card transactions in the world, Mastercard is 30%.

If they want to continue receiving payments, porn sites will have to clean up and become more virtuous.

And is it already working?

Have the sites taken action?

Anicet Mbida led the investigation.

And on the PornHub network, the biggest network of porn sites on the internet, thousands of videos have disappeared and many have a message "awaiting verification".

So it seems to work, although they still remain accessible to anyone with the click of a button.

It's amazing to see financial organizations take a moral stand.

One would have thought that money has no smell.

It's true.

But it is all very political.

On the one hand, they take care of their reputation.

And on the other hand, they avoid being involved, directly or indirectly, in a story of sex trafficking.

They should not turn into Moral Police.

Because we remind you: their decisions go above the laws of each country.

And in some cases, they can end up muzzling freedom of expression.

But when it comes to the protection of minors, their position suits a lot of people.