Pressure grows on Pornhub as 34 women sued the adult video site and its parent company, MindGeek, over illegal content. The women say they appeared without consent in footage showing rape, sexual abuse, revenge porn, or images of them when they were minors.
The porn giant has faced a growing backlash since the New York Times published an article in December 2020. The article accused Pornhub of posting illegal content online, including child pornography and rape videos — which it has denied.
The plaintiffs described the website as “likely the largest non-regulatory repository of child pornography in North America and well beyond.” They claimed, “This is a case about rape, not pornography.”
Their lawyers accuse MindGeek, the controversial adult entertainment empire that runs Pornhub, of being a “classic criminal enterprise” with a business model based on exploiting non-consensual sexual content.
Montreal-based MindGeek described the suit’s accusation as “utterly absurd, completely reckless and categorically false,” according to US media.
MindGeek owns more than 100 pornographic websites, production companies and brands, and it sees some 3.5 billion visits each month. According to the suit, which was filed in California, some of these sites includePornhub, RedTube, Tube8, and YouPorn.
Public outcry
The public outcry against the company led Canadian lawmakers in February to grill MindGeek executives about alleged abuses. Meanwhile, Mastercard and Visa suspended payments on Pornhub. The suit also names the two payments processing companies. They face accusations of having “knowingly” profiting from trafficking in providing merchant services to MindGeek.
On Thursday, a Canadian parliamentary committee released 14 recommendations for regulating online platforms. The recommendations include a requirement to verify the age and consent of all persons depicted in porn videos. In the meantime, the Trudeau administration works on a new law that would force sites to swiftly remove illegal content.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also reviews a call by victims of sexual exploitation backed by more than 70 Canadian lawmakers for a criminal investigation of Mindgeek.
In recent months, Pornhub has announced a series of measures to combat illegal content. They include allowing only users whose identity has been verified to upload content, and using artificial intelligence to help detect illegal videos.
