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Pornhub enables and promotes sexual abuse of minors, two victims of child sex trafficking are claiming in a class action lawsuit launched Friday.
The unidentified female plaintiffs say adults uploaded videos of them being raped underage to the website, where it continues to be viewed, re-traumatizing them with every additional click.
If you or someone you know was trafficked into the sex trade and forced to work at truck stops, hotels/motels, nightclubs, or other hospitality/entertainment venues, you may be able to hold businesses accountable through legal action through a civil lawsuit.
One of the lead plaintiffs, Jane Doe No. 1, describes being 16 when a man drugged and raped her in Alabama. One of the videos from the offense, posted to Pornhub in 2018, has racked up at least 2,400 views, according to the lawsuit.
“The child victims are first sexually assaulted in order to produce the vile, and often violent, images,” the class action lawsuit said. “They are then victimized again when these images of their sexual assault are traded over the Internet in massive numbers by like-minded people across the globe.”
The victims argue Pornhub’s parent company, MindGeek, violates the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
Passed by Congress in 2000, the TVPA was the first set of laws addressing the growing issue of human trafficking and allows victims to sue parties who benefit.
By 2014, the International Labor Organization says 4.5 million became victims of forced sex in an industry that brought in $99 billion globally.
The two victims in the class action lawsuit against Pornhub claim pedophiles have recorded the abuse on more than 1 million children in the United States alone.
In 2019, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an estimated 16.9 million reports of child pornography through its online tip line, according to the class action, adding that law enforcement across the United States have identified more than 13,200 child victims.
Pornhub and its parent company MindGeek aren’t doing enough to stop these uploads or sharing of this abuse, the victims allege.
The class action lawsuit claims MindGeek’s porn sites, which not only include Pornhub.com, but also Redtube.com, YouPorn.com and Tube8.com, are hosting an incredible amount of content that only continues to grow.
In 2019, more than 6.83 million videos were uploaded to the sites with over 42 billion visits.
A team of only 10 people are in charge of moderating the avalanche of images, according to the lawsuit. This team is expected to moderate 1,100 minutes of explicit content each hour.
In addition to the sheer volume, these moderators are allegedly incentivized not to scrutinize too much by a yearly bonus tied to approved content.
Furthermore, these sites allow users to download a copy of the video, enabling the content to be reuploaded and shared even if the original is taken down, according to the class action.
“MindGeek completely fails to control the torrent of videos available on its sites depicting children being molested, rapes of children and adults, persons who are incapacitated and otherwise unwilling participants,” the victims said.
Pornhub and MindGeek’s porn-hosting websites deploy resources targeting and categorizing its content but does little to verify ages or consent releases in the videos, according to the class action lawsuit.
The two women are seeking to represent a nationwide class of victims under the age of 18 who have appeared in any video or image featuring child pornography or commercial sex uploaded to one of Mindgeek’s websites. They are accusing MindGeek of violating the TVPA and of receiving, distributing and possessing child pornography. The class action lawsuit is seeking equitable and injunctive relief.
Only as of December has Pornhub required users that upload to verify identity. The plaintiffs say the move came about from a New York Times investigation linking the issue of child sex trafficking to Pornhub content practices.
MindGeek has reportedly earned 1.3 billion in revenue between 2012 and 2018, the class action states.
In Canada a similar class action lawsuit was filed by an anonymous plaintiff against MindGeek and affiliated companies, claiming that these companies run several websites with disturbing content; however, MindGeek has allegedly incorporated numerous subsidiaries and other business entities around the world to dodge its liabilities, in addition to sheltering assets, according to the lawsuit.
Let us know what you think of this class action lawsuit by commenting below.
Counsel representing the plaintiffs in the Pornhub class action lawsuit are Gregory Zarzaur of the Zarzaur Law Firm; Josh Hayes of Prince Glover Hayes; Kimberly Lambert Adams of Levin Papantonio Rafferty; Alexandria MacMaster of Laffey Bucci & Kent; Benjamin W. Bull, Peter A. Gentala, Dani Pinter, Christen M. Price of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation; Kevin Dooley Kent, Mark B. Schoeller and Joseph W. Jesiolowski of Conrad O’Brien PC.
The Pornhub Class Action Lawsuit is Doe #1, et al. v. MG Freesites LTD et al., Case No. 7:21-cv-00220, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
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Individual currently incarcerated for child pornographic material received from pornhub. This individual is being charged criminally for viewing or obtaining a video from p****** that p****** promoted posted and shared why is p****** not being charged for the same sad crimes?