A web-based appeal has accumulated north of 350,000 marks, blaming Pornhub, the UK’s biggest open-access pornography website, of benefitting from recordings portraying assault and sexual maltreatment.
As the world’s largest porn site with 42 billion visits in the previous year, Pornhub generates revenue through advertising and paid promotions from porn producers. The petition’s focus is on the alleged failure of Pornhub’s safeguards for the 6 million videos posted on the site annually, including those by amateur producers. Several accusations have surfaced in the past year, claiming that the site allowed rape and abuse videos to be widely available.
Initiated by Exodus Cry in the US and backed by activists in the UK, the petition has ignited a debate on the responsibility of platforms like Pornhub to ensure ethical content sharing. Critics argue that the company’s inadequate verification processes lead to the hosting of explicit content featuring minors and non-consensual acts. This concern is magnified by the popularity of the “teen” category on the site and instances of videos featuring underage individuals engaging in sexual acts.
While Pornhub’s parent company, Mindgeek, headquartered in Luxembourg with global offices, vehemently denies these allegations, stating that it has strict measures in place to remove illegal content, advocacy groups contend that these assertions are based on evidence of poor practices. Cases have emerged where disturbing content, including videos of rape, were uploaded to Pornhub, forcing the victims to undergo an arduous process to have the content removed.
The controversy highlights the broader debate surrounding the regulation of online platforms that host explicit content. Critics argue that the platform should take more responsibility to verify the legality and consent involved in the videos it hosts, while Pornhub maintains that it adheres to measures to combat non-consensual content and defends the posted material as protected under freedom of speech.
As the conversation evolves, the allegations against Pornhub continue to raise questions about the ethical considerations and safeguards associated with online platforms dealing with explicit content, especially in relation to the depiction of minors and non-consensual acts.
