We need to talk about Pornhub

[antithissocialmedia]

A BBC article this week linked the NYTimes article from the beginning of December which highlighted many problems with Pornhub. I link the NYTimes report below and also the update published the following week which highlights some changes being made as a result of the first article:

www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.html

www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/opinion/pornhub-news-child-abuse.html

I don't think the changes are enough. Pornhub has announced that only user identified videos will be able to be uploaded and as of yesterday have apparently removed everything else - but it will be easy enough to get around it. Also, going on Pornhub's track record it won't be enforced. The linked report highlights that there are a truly miniscule number of moderators employed to review material on the site (I think the report says 80 moderators?), yet there were 13.5 million videos on Pornhub before Sunday night - as of Monday morning there were 2.8 million and this was only because Mastercard and Visa had withdrawn their permission for their cards to be used while they reviewed the situation with illegal material on Pornhub. You would need a lot more than 80 for 2.8 million. And how much longer will this last? Every time Pornhub is criticised it seems it declares that the criticisms are old or wrong or out of date and that changes to its policies have been made – yet the same inexcusable material is apparently uploaded.

It is all part of the wider problem in relation to the terrifying rise of child sexually exploitation on the net and the money associated with it. Another quote from the journalist who wrote the above report: “In 2015, 6.5 million videos or other child sexual abuse material were reported to the authorities in the United States; last year, the figure was 69 million” - and that is just the states. Something like 300000 people in the UK are viewing child sexual exploitation content on the net in the UK at any one time apparently.

Xvideos and XNXX are similar sites. Seen and used by children as well as images of children appearing.

AIBU to think all porn and opportunities for sexual exploitation needs to come off the web until adequate laws and much much tighter controls are put in place and more effective sanctions for people viewing illegal content.

@VitaminBitch

But selling your body is inherently unethical. Even if it appears to be on your own terms. It might seem less exploitative but it's still a moral and ethical degeneration.

I don't know if erotic fiction or cartoons is better?

Erotic fiction has to be better surely, given no actual people are involved....yes some people write erotic fiction about real life public figures, which is a bit grim IMO, and the subject matter can be as dodgy as any other form of erotica, but it still has to be better. Also its not infrequently written not for profit and by women for women.

Agree 100% When I was growing up (80s) even showing penetrative sex in a porno was illegal! Also there is censorship in every area-films, books, TV. Why is the internet different?? Time's up on abuse being used as entertainment because "China" FFS

This. The ‘freedom’ of the internet has failed if it becomes an excuse to subject women to rape and torture. Whose ‘freedom’ is it really respecting? We all need a much more mature approach and to remember exactly why the old social rules were set up in the first place. ‘The internet’ was given a free pass in a range of matters because too many people thought of it as a magic black box fantasy area where old rules and compromises no longer need apply. We’re now discovering, socially, economically, politically that that is not the case, anc in fact the belief makes us more vulnerable in many ways. I find the idea that freedom to use credit cards is so crucial, that we should accept the specific ill treatment of women and the wider ill regard extreme porn is causing for women in general, as pretty disgusting. There are other ways of transferring money around.

It should be totally shut down.

But then I think ALL porn should be illegal. So I suspect I’m in the minority

I agree with you OP. I just don't know what could be done.

@VestaTilley

It should be totally shut down.

But then I think ALL porn should be illegal. So I suspect I’m in the minority

All porn used to be illegal, and there was still porn. IIRC the interval between the first ever photograph and the first ever pornographic photograph back in the 19thc was less than twelve months. I too wish it was less explicit and accessible to young people than it is now, but its never going to be absent and online porn isn't even that new a thing. DH remembers looking up porn online behind his parents' back way back in the 90s (they were conservative Christians and would've lost their shit if they'd caught him!)