As ludicrous as the suggestion may have at first seemed, there are now legitimate calls for Pornhub to square off against YouTube.

Several right-wing content creators have abandoned YouTube following Google’s recent efforts to clear its platform of fake news and hate speech. Some, such as gun enthusiast channel InRange TV, have suggested that Pornhub is an ideal alternative.

YouTube has been tightening up its content restrictions, and recent changes such as its firearms T&Cs have been met with consternation from some users.

Pornhub’s prohibited use section is certainly more lenient, Polygon reports, requiring that creators “will only use the website and our services for the lawful purposes”.

The small print also prohibits “racial slurs or hate speech” and any content “that is obscene, illegal, unlawful, defamatory, libelous, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate”.

Other restrictions include not posting video of anyone aged under 18 or any association with gambling.

Ad revenue

Pornhub even has an ad revenue scheme, as explained by vice president Corey Price last year.

“Our offering is actually quite similar to YouTube’s,” Price said. “We recently renamed our amateur program to the model program to be more encompassing of all our amazing content creators uploading their self-made content for ad revenue and promotion to cam shows and paid clip sites.

“The program is extremely popular right now. We have many tens of thousands currently enrolled and we also receive hundreds of signups each and every day. Our program boasts some of the highest payouts across the entire industry, paying out approximately 90% of the ad-revenue earned. Many of our models use Pornhub not only to make ad revenue but also promote their subscription websites, paid snapchats, cam shows etc. and end up building huge fan bases across all their platforms.”

The bigger question is whether Pornhub’s aspirations match those of the communities that are turning to it. The site does have a ‘safe for work section’, and a senior community manager going by the name of Katie recently replied to a Reddit suggestion that a new non-porn arm of the site should be launched by saying: “We’ve joked about doing something like this in the past but now it’s becoming more and more realistic and not so crazy. We’ll see!”

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