More than 750 sexual exploitation victims and groups dedicated to helping them are urging Congress to investigate Pornhub.
The pornography company “violated federal sex trafficking and child protection laws” and “monetized sexual abuse,” a May 18 letter addressed to the leaders and ranking members of the House committees on Oversight and Reform, Judiciary, and Homeland Security alleged.
ORANGE COUNTY TEACHER SUSPECTED OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY POSSESSION ARRESTED AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The group accused MindGeek, the company that owns Pornhub, of “corporate indifference regarding harm caused to women and children on its platform” and of “facilitating and profiting from criminal acts including sex trafficking, filmed sexual abuse of children, and non-consensually recorded and distributed pornography.”
The website removed millions of videos from the platform after a December 2020 article in the New York Times accused it of monetizing videos depicting rape and sexual assault. It also disallowed users from downloading content, which had previously been a site feature.
“The company has violated federal age verification and record keeping laws under 18 USC Section 2257 for over a decade,” the letter said. “This is because the download button caused the direct transfer of pornography from MindGeek servers to individuals’ devices around the globe.”
“As part of our policy to ban unverified uploaders, we have now also suspended all previously uploaded content that was not created by content partners or members of the Model Program,” Pornhub wrote in an announcement a week and a half after the column came out. “This means every piece of Pornhub content is from verified uploaders, a requirement that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter have yet to institute.”
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The company acknowledged that the independent, third-party Internet Watch Foundation “reported 118 incidents” of child sexual abuse material on its site but said it is “still 118 too many, which is why we are committed to taking every necessary action.”
Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse and Democratic Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley announced in December 2020 the Stop Internet Sexual Exploitation Act, which would require pornography sites to verify the identities of those who upload content and consent forms from every participating individual.
Pornhub did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
