December 11th 2020 - Pornhub Getting Deplatformed

There are few instances in which US Left and US Right can find a common cause. When it happens, it usually results in major degrading of individual rights and increased power of the state. A hundred years ago, one such broad consensus resulted with Prohibition. In 1980s there was an attmept to reintroduced stricter limits on free expression when radical feminists and Christian conservatives joined forces in an attempt to ban pornography. Thanks to rapid technological advancements, such ban seems less practical in 21st Century, but it doesn't mean that it won't be attempted, usually in order to score some cheap political points or pave the way for even more sinister totalitarian agenda.

One such attempt is unfolding story of Pornhub, which just got partially deplatformed due to Mastecard and VISA ending its financial services to the company. t happened due to the initiative of right-wing and social conservative US Senator Josh Hawley, who threatened with anti-Pornhub legislation. His initiative was fueled by the article in nominally liberal New York Times, claiming that Pornhub, despite its efforts to curb child pornography, rape and revenge porn video on the site, failed to do so.

For American social conservatives, who are clear losers of all of culture wars in past few decades, anti-pornographic crusade represents one of last remaining battlefields when they can expect to achieve some victories. And this is mostly due to US leftists and "progressives" becoming increasingly authoritaian and intolerant; they might not see pornography as the worst of US problems, but they recognise that the techniques of semi-official censorship and deplatforming can be a precedent later used against much bigger targets like persons and organisations that have opinions contrary to the increasingly narrow line.

Attack on Pornhub, on the other hand, is unlikely to actually erase pornography from the Internet, a phenomenon that existed before and would exist afterwards. The consumers and producers of pornographic content through the decades proved to be the most adept in accept and employ new technology. In this particular case, like in some previous (like Wikileaks), shutting down credit card payments would give another major reason for Pornhub and its users to embrace cryptocurrencies.