On June 17, 2021, a total of 34 women filed a lawsuit against MindGeek, the parent company behind PornHub and other popular pornography websites. The civil lawsuit alleges violations of sex trafficking laws, distribution of child pornography, and distribution of private sexually explicit materials, among other things.
The complaint specifically accuses the company of hosting and promoting graphic videos of rape, revenge pornography, and child sexual abuse material. Of the 34 women suing the company, 14 were underage in the videos that were posted to PornHub, and 14 were victims of individuals who have been charged or convicted of sex crimes.
The lawsuit follows a contentious year for MindGeek. In 2020, a petition started by the Traffickinghub campaign called “Shut Down PornHub” garnered over 2 million signatures. In December of the same year, Mastercard and Visa blockedcard users from making purchases on the PornHub website. While this public outcry led to MindGeek purging the site of 80% of its unverified content, the company still does not verify the age or identity of those who are featured in uploaded videos. Instead, content can only be uploaded onto PornHub by official content partners and members of their “Model Program.”
The CSE Institute applauds the 34 women who brought this lawsuit against MindGeek. No company should ever profit from sexual exploitation and abuse, particularly the sexual exploitation of children. The CSE Institute will provide updates as they become available.