Executives of MindGeek, the company which owns and runs Pornhub, were forced to testify before a Canadian ethics committee over charges that the website has profited from sex trafficking as well as the rape of minors.
Pornhub/MindGeek execs had to testify publicly for the first time for a Canadian parliamentary committee as part of Canada’s investigation into their crimes. In December, the access to information, privacy, and ethics committee moved to bring MindGeek in for testimony about “the company’s failure to prohibit rape videos and other illegal content from its site.”
This is the first time the company, which makes hundreds of millions of dollars from disgusting content, has been called to account.
A warning to viewers: video 2 below contains graphic information.
This is a major win for Christian and conservative groups who often wave their flag for justice, only to have it go unnoticed. In this case, the noise around Pornhub and its crimes simply became too loud, forcing authorities into action. The country of Thailand even shut the site down altogether.
However, the real action took place after Pulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Journalist Nicholas Kristof published an Op-Ed exposing Pornhub, causing the website to go into damage mode on its business model. From there, things got serious, forcing authorities into action.
The company is facing a class-action lawsuit in Quebec, alleging it profited off material showing child sexual abuse and non-consensual activity since 2007. It is also being sued by 40 women in California who claim the company continues to profit from pornographic videos of them that were published without their full consent.
Pornhub says it has removed all videos uploaded by non-verified users after the adult website faced accusations it hosted illegal content. The move came after Visa and MasterCard launched investigations and decided in December to stop allowing their cards to be used on Pornhub. MindGeek told the committee that between eight and 10 million videos uploaded by unverified users were removed from the website after the change.
In recent news, the company’s auditors, the global accounting firm Grant Thornton, has resigned from working with the company. Asked about the decision to resign as auditors to Mindgeek firms, Grant Thornton said on Tuesday: “In light of the serious nature of recent developments, Grant Thornton Ireland have disengaged with the aforementioned client.”
Matthias Browning
Matthias Browning | Reporter
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