Instagram removes PornHub’s account as pressure from campaigners grows

Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The official account for PornHub has been taken down by the photo sharing service.

Variety states that at the time of its removal, PornHub had over 13 million followers and over 6200 posts on the social network. Safe-for-work content was posted by the account. Popular PornHub accounts can be found on other social media platforms.

The account was taken down for violating community guidelines, but it isn't clear why. If we hear back from Meta, the story will be updated.

Mickelwait is the founder of the "TraffickingHub" campaign, an advocacy group devoted to "shutting down PornHub and holding its executives accountable for enabling, distributing and profiting from rape, child abuse, sex trafficking and criminal image based sexual abuse."

Critics note her connections to evangelical Christian groups that advocate the abolition of sex work and commercial pornography. According to Mickelwait's website, she worked at a Christian group that wanted to "end the sex industry" and listed herTraffickingHub on its website.

According to a report by The New Republic, the Christian ministry led by pastor Mike Bickle, a dominionist, believes that God has called them conservative.

Mickelwait said in a statement that it was time for other big tech companies to follow suit and that it was time for them to cut ties with Pornhub. If we hear back, we will update this story.

The CEO and COO of PornHub resigned due to the growing criticism of the company for facilitating the distribution of child abuse material. In 2020, Visa and Mastercard stopped processing payments on PornHub due to the presence of "unlawful content", but this hasn't stopped lawsuits from proceeding against the companies. A judge in California allowed a lawsuit against Visa to continue because the company wanted to help MindGeek monetize child porn.

In response to criticism, PornHub has taken steps like removing all content from unverified users and removing a download function.