Bill Ackman blasts Visa, saying it has the power to pressure Pornhub to remove child pornography

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Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is taking a vocal stance against Visa, saying the credit card giant has the power to pressure Pornhub to remove child pornography from its site.

«My interest comes from the fact that I have four daughters,» Ackman said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Tuesday. «When you think about the worst harm — economic, physical, mental harm you can impact upon a human being — it's having a child trafficked… video of the rape appear. I find it hard to talk about it.»

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in California ruled that Visa knowingly facilitated the distribution of child pornography on Pornhub and other sites operated by parent company MindGeek by processing payments.

Carney denied parts of Visa's motion to be dismissed from claims brought by a woman who is suing Visa and MindGeek over a sexually explicit video her boyfriend filmed of her when she was 13.

«It is simple,» Carney said in his ruling. «Visa made the decision to continue to recognize MindGeek as a merchant, despite its alleged knowledge that MindGeek monetized child porn. MindGeek made the decision to continue monetizing child porn, and there are enough facts pled to suggest that the latter decision depended on the former.»

The Pershing Square CEO had called on Visa and Mastercard in late 2020 to temporarily withhold payments to Pornhub after a New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof brought the issue to light.

«Remarkably, the company, despite being entirely aware that there's child pornography on these sites, they continue to provide payment services, until the Kristoff article, and then they shut down the sites overnight which would have bankrupted them,» Ackman said. «Within a matter of weeks they