Pornhub performers will soon have to find another payment method, as the pornography site announced that PayPal is stopping payouts for its website.
According to the website, over a hundred thousand performers rely on the website as a source of income when they upload and sell videos they create. "We are all devastated by PayPal's decision to stop payouts to over a hundred thousand performers who rely on them for their livelihoods," the website wrote in a statement.
Performers in Latin America appear to be hit the hardest by the news, as they don't have many options for payment methods. "I'm so worried about the payment for Brazilian models, seems like none of the options works for us," one verified member wrote. "Please help us, we already suffer with so many other sites, Pornhub was the only one that was OK with it, I'm so sad now."
"I think it's the same problem for all models from Latin America! I'm from Colombia and I feel worry, my only option was PayPal," another verified member replied.
“Following a review, we have discovered that Pornhub has made certain business payments through PayPal without seeking our permission," a PayPal spokesperson told VICE. "We have taken action to stop these transactions from occurring.”
PayPal has been on the radar of groups like Survivors Against SESTA for years. They are a collective battling the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which was created to prevent online sex work. "You may not use the PayPal service for activities that ... items that are considered obscene ... certain sexually oriented materials or services," PayPal states in its Acceptable Use Policy.
This isn't the first crackdown Pornhub has faced recently. Last year, Starbucks announced that it would start blocking customers from viewing their website and other porn sites on their Wi-Fi. Pornhub, the innovators that they are, responded by creating a "Safe For Work" category.
"While we were aware some people's preference in a sexual partner mimics that of their coffee, we were unaware that people were acting on such impulses when getting their caffeine fix," Corey Price, vice president of Pornhub, said at the time. "To comply with Starbucks' new policy, we've created an option that allows fans to still enjoy great content to which they are accustomed, but that is appropriate for consumption in public places."
