Tell Congress to shut down Pornhub as the exploitation continues
(LifeSiteNews) — Pornhub, one of the world’s largest smut sites, had a bad 2023—and it appears that 2024 won’t be much better for them. Over the past year, they have been fighting to halt a series of state-level age verification laws, stating publicly that it violates their rights and privately that it kills their traffic. This admission reveals that underage traffic is a significant part of their business model. Pornhub sued to stop a Texas age verification bill earlier this year, but failed in their attempt in November.
In fact, in some cases Pornhub has decided that age verification laws damage their business model to such an extent that it is better for them to simply block entire states rather than comply with the law. Thus far, Pornhub has blocked Utah, Virginia, and Mississippi—and now, with North Carolina’s age verification law set to be implemented on January 1, Pornhub has announced that they will be considering next steps moving forward. North Carolina’s law mandates that all porn sites will be required to verify that users are 18 years or older, and Pornhub has published the following statement, which reads in part:
Dear user,
As you may know, your elected officials in North Carolina are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk…
The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. We believe that the best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in North Carolina.
Please contact your representatives before it is too late and demand device-based verification solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy.
Pornhub
The level of self-righteous deceit here is ironic considering the fact that, as per the New York Times, Pornhub was recently forced to admit that it has profited from sex trafficking. It’s a headline Pornhub has been trying to avoid for some time: “Pornhub’s Parent Company Admits to Profiting From Sex Trafficking.” This comes as no surprise to those of us who have been reporting on the porn industry for years.
According to the Times: “The company that operates Pornhub and other adult websites acknowledged in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday that it had profited for years from pornographic content that depicted sex trafficking victims, according to federal prosecutors. Aylo Holdings S.A.R.L., Pornhub’s parent company, pleaded not guilty to a charge of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds. But through an agreement with prosecutors, the company agreed to pay damages to women who said they were forced to appear in pornographic videos that were then posted to the company’s websites without their consent.”
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I would make one clarifying point here: Porn sites still depict trafficking, rape, sexual violence, kidnapping, and every other form of abuse as a matter of course. What the Times is reporting is that it has been confirmed that Pornhub was profiting from actual videos of actual trafficking victims being abused for the camera, with the videos then being watched for pleasure or entertainment by millions of viewers. One damning point that is not often noted is that so much of Pornhub’s content is violent that it is almost impossible for a porn viewer to tell the difference between on-camera rape and run-of-the-mill content, because they look virtually identical. Every data point indicates that our culture is addicted to sexual violence, and Pornhub has been the primary dealer feeding that addiction.
There are indications that Pornhub’s troubles aren’t over. CNN reported on December 20 that the European Union “is wielding its sweeping new rules for big online platforms in order to crack down on pornography sites Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, announced Wednesday that it had added the sites to its list of “very large online platforms” or VLOPs, a classification that subjects them to tougher standards covering age verification, content moderation and transparency under the landmark Digital Services Act. ‘Creating a safer online environment for our children is an enforcement priority under the DSA,’ European Commissioner Thierry Breton said on X as he unveiled the three additions.”
If the EU cracks down on the porn industry in a meaningful way in 2024, it will be a very bad year for Pornhub, indeed.
RELATED: The rise of ‘porn-made pedophiles’ should be considered a global emergency
Tell Congress to shut down Pornhub as the exploitation continues
