Pornhub sued by dozens of women over alleged image based and child sexual abuse

Over 30 women have accused the company behind Pornhub of profiting from exploitative content.

Pornhub is being sued by dozens of women over alleged image based and child sexual abuse incidents. MindGeek, the parent company behind the biggest porn website in the world, is facing exploitation claims after over 30 women accused them of profiting from content that had been uploaded without their consent. Among those suing are women alleging sex trafficking incidents in which the content was then shared on Pornhub, women who were victims of iCloud hacks, and victims of people who had been convicted of sex based crimes. 14 of the women suing the company have said they were underage when such content was uploaded to Pornhub. Complainants have dubbed the site a "classic criminal enterprise" based on exploiting non-consensual videos. The accusers, many of whom will remain anonymous, are seeking damages in the millions. "This is a case about rape, not pornography," one complaint said. They also dubbed the website "likely the largest non-regulatory repository of child pornography in North America and well beyond." According to the women's lawyer, the case could amount to wins of "hundreds of millions of dollars." MindGeek is believed to be worth somewhere in the realm of $1.2 billion. In a statement, MindGeek claimed the platform uses "the most comprehensive safeguards" on the internet and that they look into all complaints regarding videos when received. "Pornhub has zero tolerance for illegal content and investigates any complaint or allegation made about content on our platforms," they said. "The fact is, Pornhub has in place the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history, which include the banning of uploads from unverified users, expanding our moderation processes, and cooperating with dozens of non-profit organisations around the world." Earlier this year, the site reportedly purged millions of unverified videos from its platform, stating that content would now go through a "verification process" before it could be shared. Prior to this change, any person could share any kind of video to Pornhub without it being verified.