Pornhub and CSA images - article in the NYT

[ArabellaScott]

Probably obviously, content warning:

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/opinion/pornhub-children-documents.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GE8.4Pr7.nCkXNWEw-dXW

'Internal memos seem to show executives obsessed with making money by attracting the biggest audiences they could, pedophiles included. In one memo, Pornhub managers proposed words to be banned from video descriptions — such as “infant” and “kiddy” — while recommending that the site continue to allow “brutal,” “childhood,” “force,” “snuffs,” “unwilling,” “minor” and “wasted.”
One internal note says that a person who posted a sexual video of a child shouldn’t be banned from the site because “the user made money.”'

'Google is a part of the problem, too, for it has been central to the business model of companies publishing nonconsensual imagery. A Google search for “choking porn videos” leads to just that. And Google also directs users to at least one website that monetizes assaults on victims of human trafficking. (Unlike Google, I’m not going to name the site and help it earn profits.)'

They should be in prison.

Jesus

they should, indeed be in prison

Yes. Shout out to Laila Micklewait, who has done lots of great work on this:

'Laila Mickelwait, a dogged pursuer of Pornhub at the Justice Defense Fund and author of a book, “Takedown,” about her efforts to hold the company accountable, says that there is still plenty of unverified content on the site that Pornhub is making money from.
“Illegal content is still proliferating on Pornhub,” Mickelwait told me. “Pornhub doesn’t seem to care.”

Yet Mickelwait also acknowledges the progress. “Once they realize the risk is greater than the benefit, they’re forced to change,” she said.'

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/society/article/one-mums-mission-to-shut-pornhub-for-selling-torture-and-rape-3cwj8qs7f

https://lailamickelwait.com/

A very brave and determined woman.

Pornhub produced these documents during discovery in a civil suit by an Alabama woman who beginning at age 16 was filmed engaging in sex acts, including at least once when she was drugged and then raped. These videos of her were posted on Pornhub and amassed thousands of views

I hope she takes them to the fucking cleaners. As the article says, tech companies cannot be trusted and the only way to make them be remotely ethical is to make it too expensive not to be

This is grimly fascinating

And while I’ve written about terrorists, gangsters and extremists, I got more death threats after that article (The children of Pornhub, which resulted in videos of CSA being removed) than from any I’ve ever written.

I imagine there's a lot more men who want to masturbate to images of children being abused than are in any particular terrorist organisation or gang.

Which is, in itself, terrifying.