Pornhub has announced a number of reforms, including banning unverified users from uploading videos to its website, after allegations the company was showing videos of rape and child exploitation.
Last week, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote that the site makes money off child rapes, revenge pornography and scenes of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags, detailing the accounts of those whose videos were posted without their consent.
Anti-human trafficking advocates and a cross-partisan group of MPs and senators in Canada have urged the government to hold the Montreal-based MindGeek and its website Pornhub accountable.
Initially, Pornhub pushed back against the allegations, saying in a statement that any assertion the website allows child sexual abuse material is “irresponsible and flagrantly untrue.” Pornhub on Tuesday posted on its website a series of steps it’s taking to “further protect our community.” The changes apply to MindGeek’s other sites, too.
Pornhub said only content partners and people within its “model program” will be able to upload content to Pornhub, and that in the new year, it will implement a verification process allowing users to upload content after completing an identification protocol. Pornhub said its model program is a group of verified users that have opted in to earn ad revenue and sell their content through Pornhub.
The website said it has removed the ability for users to download content, with the exception of paid downloads within its verified model program, and it’s expanding its moderation with a newly established team dedicated to auditing the platform for potentially illegal material, which is in addition to an existing team of human moderators dedicated to manually reviewing every upload.
Pornhub said it recently launched a new program with non-profit partners, which empowers those groups to alert the website of content they believe may violate its terms of service. It said it will release a transparency report detailing its content moderation results from the previous year and said in April it hired a law firm to conduct an independent review of its content.
Marissa Kokkoros, executive director of Aura Freedom International, wants to hear more information about the verification process. She said it only takes one video to destroy someone’s life.
“The kids and people who have been exploited on Pornhub have a lifetime of recovery, while [Pornhub laughs] all the way to the bank. Their sanitized statement released today means nothing to me. It’s another way of saying, ‘Here, read this while we continue to make money.’ ”
Megan Walker, executive director of London Abused Women’s Centre, said she does not trust Pornhub to verify users and wants to see the government act.
“This requires a government response to ensure no child is watching pornography or being sexually exploited in it. We simply can’t rely on Pornhub to do this,” Ms. Walker said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Question Period on Tuesday that the government is working on new regulations to force online platforms to remove illegal content, including hate speech, sexual exploitation of children and violent content.
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault later said in Question Period that the government will bring forward legislation to deal with online platforms to eliminate illegal content in the beginning of 2021.
Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs asked whether Public Safety Minister Bill Blair believes there is a gap in law enforcement that needs to be fixed.
Mr. Blair said he has reached out to the RCMP and asked that it speaks to the police in Montreal to ensure they have all the help they can provide.
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