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Update:
- A federal judge in Alabama has certified a class of child sex trafficking survivors in a complaint against Pornhub, which is accused of profiting off of sexual abuse shown in videos submitted to the platform.
- The judge determined the plaintiff in the case, who claims she was filmed being sexually abused while underage, had established common issues relating to Pornhub’s practices and policies.
- The certified class consists of individuals who were younger than 18 years old when appearing in a video or image found on any Pornhub-operated website since Feb. 12, 2011.
- Among the questions presented includes whether child sexual abuse material appeared on Pornhub’s websites, whether its conduct constitutes child sex trafficking and how the company reviews and moderates content it obtains for its websites.
(July 9, 2021)
Pornhub says it’s not its fault that videos of sexual abuse are uploaded to its platform by users, arguing a class action lawsuit alleging it profited from two womens’ abuse should be thrown out.
On Wednesday, the pornography website told an Alabama judge that the class action lawsuit filed against it by two female survivors of childhood sex trafficking should be dismissed, because it is protected from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Law360 reports.
“Internet service companies (like defendants) cannot be held liable as the publishers of user- generated content (like the videos of plaintiffs third parties made and uploaded),” Pornhub argued. “Thus, because plaintiffs seek to hold defendants liable for content posted to their websites, their claims are proscribed by Section 230.”
In February, two anonymous women filed the class action lawsuit against Pornhub, alleging videos of their past sexual abuse were sold and distributed on websites owned by Pornhub’s parent company, MindGeek.
The women say MindGeek profited from their abuse and didn’t adequately monitor the content on its websites. They are suing under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
According to their complaint, MindGeek makes it easy for users to find sexual abuse material on its sites by suggesting search terms such as “underage rape” and “extra small teens.”
The class action says in the six years from 2012 to 2018, MindGeek made $1.3 billion in revenue. The plaintiffs say that revenue was partly driven by the sexual abuse of minors.
However, Pornhub argued Wednesday that it should not be held liable. It said Section 230 protects it from being sued because it was third-parties who uploaded the material, not the company. It also said its website tools did not harm the plaintiffs, and by tagging the videos they were not creating them, Law360 reports.
“The complaint does not connect any website features to the specific harm plaintiffs allegedly suffered,” it said.
The quarter-century-old Section 230 is also being called on to defend class action lawsuits against financial services company Robinhood.
As class actions mount over Robinhood’s move to block the trading of GameStop and other stocks on its app, some legal experts say Section 230 may block some plaintiffs’ lawsuits.
What do you think of the use of Section 230 in this case? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by 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 Gentala, Dani Pinter and Christen Price of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation; and Mark Schoeller of Conrad O’Brien PC.
The Pornhub MindGeek class action lawsuit is Doe No. 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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One thought on Judge certifies class of child sex trafficking survivors in Pornhub lawsuit
Please hold PorhHub responsible. I had an ex create an account and upload photos and intimate moments that I was unaware he was filming. By the time I found out, one video alone was downloaded over 700,000 times. I would love to take them to court, my ex (who knows where he is and probably doing the same to another woman now being on PH without her permission). It took months plus numerous documents, photos, submissions etc, to get my own images off and even now I noticed they are mysteriously uploaded again. Not Cool, Porn hub!