Instagram takes down PornHub's official account

Meta-owned Instagram has taken down the official account for adult entertainment website PornHub amid pressure from the civil rights groups. The company, however, did not reveal the reason behind the move.

Before the Instagram account was removed, Pornhub had 13.1 million followers and more than 6,200 posts, reports Variety.

On its Instagram account, Pornhub shared non-pornographic videos and images but it "directly promoted pornography" and featured videos to encourage people to become pornography performers.

The screenshots shared by anti-PornHub campaigner Laila Mickelwait suggest the account was taken down for violating Instagram's community guidelines.

The move comes after Visa and Mastercard cut off payment privileges of TrafficJunky, the advertising arm of Pornhub parent company MindGeek.

There has been widespread criticism of PornHub for facilitating "child abuse material" on its platform in recent years.

In 2020, Visa and Mastercard stopped processing payments on PornHub due to the presence of "unlawful content" on the platform.

Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said that "Instagram is courageously choosing to stop partnering with Pornhub, and it is time for all corporate entities to follow its example".

Pornhub's Twitter account with 3.4 million followers still remains active. Its official YouTube channel has 882,000 subscribers, where it shares "safe-for-work" video content.