Porn fans with Roku players will have to turn to other devices before long. Protocol has learned that Roku will effectively ban channels from Pornhub and other porn services on March 1st, 2022. The company is dropping support for “non-certified” private channels on that day in favor of beta channels that are limited to 20 users. That’s potentially better for testers, but a headache for adult content providers who used those channels to get around Roku’s restrictions on regular channels.
Roku has been accused of largely ignoring private channels before. That didn’t necessarily clash with porn sites, but it did create issues with both rights holders worried about privacy as well as critics concerned Roku was enabling the spread of harmful misinformation and violence. Roku eventually pulled InfoWars’ channel and issued warnings that it might remove illegal private channels without warning.
We’ve asked Roku for comment. Unlike policy decisions (however temporary) at sites like OnlyFans, though this isn’t likely the result of anti-porn mindsets from partners. Rather, this may be more about control. Roku doesn’t have to worry about channel operators bypassing its official system, particularly those that might get the company in trouble. Whatever the reasoning, this may prompt porn fans to switch to Android TV, Fire TV or browser-equipped platforms that still offer ways to watch racy material.
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