PayPal is notorious for discriminating against sex workers. PayPal’s acceptable use policy prohibits usage for “certain sexually oriented materials or services,” an intentionally vague assertion frequently used to limit or ban the accounts of sex workers using PayPal.
If you’re a sex worker, even if you don’t consider yourself a sex worker, using PayPal is unwise and unstable. Even if you don’t accept PayPal as payment for sexual services, your account is at risk. And if you have money in your account when they ban you, they have no obligation to return it since you violated their exceptionally, deliberately vague anti-adult terms.
And yet, in spite of all this, apparently Pornhub was offering PayPal as an option for model payouts up through November 13 of this year, when the option was abruptly cut off. The announcement came to the community via the following tweet:
URGENT: PayPal has stopped all Pornhub model payouts.
If you had PayPal as your payout method please change to direct deposit/SEPA, or payment by check in your settings. Read more here https://t.co/LQAKeMsHIu
— Pornhub Model Help & Updates ✈️ XBIZ LA + AVN 2020 (@PornhubHelp) November 14, 2019
Pornhub offering it as an option aside, why would sex workers elect to use PayPal, anyway? Everyone knows they hate us, right?
Well, many newbies might not know this. If you’re new or if you’re just trying to make quick money or you’re doing it for kicks, you might not even consider that this payment app would dare ban you. Maybe you’re a digital sex worker who thinks you’re safe because your work is legal. It’s also possible that established sex workers didn’t learn about PayPal’s anti-sex work stance until it impacted them directly.
Or, maybe it was worth the risk?
Even for sex workers who are aware of the risk, PayPal might be the quickest, safest and most easily accessible internationally. A person can submit payment and the receiver can deposit it almost instantly or keep it in their account and use it for other online payments. It’s a swift and easy alternative to bank transfers, without giving your bank information to the payer. Depositing money via PayPal is less likely to be flagged and investigated by your bank, which means your bank account is at lower risk of being terminated because it’s less obvious where the money is coming from.
If you don’t have the privilege of accessing a bank account, PayPal is the next best way to get paid. You can then use those funds to make other purchases via PayPal. Other popular payment apps like CashApp and Venmo are not available internationally, so it’s easier to use a global payment app like PayPal and receive the entire amount (without added fees or split revenue).
But, PayPal’s policy against “certain sexually oriented materials or services” allows them to discriminate against anyone who engages in certain sexually oriented materials or services. And they do.
In a high-risk industry like ours, payment processors like Visa and Mastercard make it hard to tiptoe around their regulations just to get paid. But PayPal, too, has made their anti-sex work stance increasingly obvious over the years. Put simply: We knew this was going to happen. For an up-close account of PayPal’s discrimination, check out Kitty Striker’s article on HuffPost — published over five years ago.
When asked why they elected to offer PayPal as a payout method, @PornhubHelp has said it was to support over 100,000 active models, all over the world, who have limited options. But PayPal’s vague acceptable use policy allows them to cut you off at any time. Including, apparently, MindGeek, the biggest name in porn and one of the biggest presences on the internet in general.
Why was a porn industry giant able to use PayPal, but independent sex workers get their accounts banned?
On November 14, the day after the announcement, PayPal told Motherboard, “Following a review, we have discovered that Pornhub has made certain business payments through PayPal without seeking our permission. We have taken action to stop these transactions from occurring.”
Those “business payments” may be the payouts the company makes to everyone in its Model Partner Program. With last year’s passage of FOSTA/SESTA, adult sites are more liable for what users put on their platforms. This is why many legal adult sites adjusted their terms to prohibit promotion of in-person services. If you do something illegal using their platform, the company can be held in part responsible for it — and that’s bad for the company, as well as for all of the models using the site.
So, a site can get in a load of legal trouble if it is found to be hosting illegal content, such as media showing the exploitation of minors, rape and/or other nonconsensual acts… which, by the way, Pornhub has. Because, although you need a verified ID to earn money from uploads, anyone can create an account and upload literally anything to the site, and it won’t be removed unless it’s matched to a digital fingerprint, Pornhub claims, or is otherwise brought to their attention.
Hey Megan all videos uploaded on Pornhub are verified automatically against a 3rd party database of fingerprinted content. If there is a match the video is instantly removed. You can read how to fingerprint here https://t.co/9G9uJEJSL4 DM if you need any assistance
— Pornhub Model Help & Updates ✈️ XBIZ LA + AVN 2020 (@PornhubHelp) November 16, 2019
Since SESTA/FOSTA can hold Pornhub and its business partners liable for such things, it might be ideal, then, for PayPal to sever its business relationship with them.
Pornhub has not used their enormous platform to speak out against SESTA?FOSTA. MindGeek has been encouraged to invest in other (sex worker-friendly) payment options, more safe and secure than PayPal. It’s even been suggested that they start their own. But with limited backup options, many verified uploaders are left waiting to access their earnings.
PayPal did not respond to YNOT Cam’s request for comment on these issues.
Pornhub currently offers payout via Paxum, paper check, Verge (crypto) or direct deposit (for US and Canadian models). European models can opt for SEPA direct deposit. Direct deposits come from “MG Freesites.” If your payout method was previously set to PayPal, you need to change it to another method via your “Settings” tab. No earnings were lost, but receipt may be delayed until you update your payout method.
No money was lost
— Pornhub Model Help & Updates ✈️ XBIZ LA + AVN 2020 (@PornhubHelp) November 16, 2019
If you need to access your October earnings ASAP or need any other help, you can also open a support ticket by contacting models@pornhub.com to expedite payment.
Pornhub assures us that they are working to make sure the models who were affected by PayPal’s decision will receive their earnings quickly, and they will continue exploring additional sex-worker friendly payment options.
Payments for October that were supposed to be on PayPal will start being sent out Friday and continue being sent next week as long as you update your payment method.
— Pornhub Model Help & Updates ✈️ XBIZ LA + AVN 2020 (@PornhubHelp) November 14, 2019
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Alsanna James is a student, advocate, spoonie, writer, gamer and adult content creator. Half silent oracle, half professional sexpot, you can email her at alsanna@ynotcam.com and find her on Twitter at @AlsannaJames.
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