A lawsuit filed by more victims of the sex trafficking operation claims that Pornhub’s moderation staff ignored reports of their abuse videos.


Sixty-one additional women are suing Pornhub’s parent company, claiming that the company failed to take down videos of their abuse as part of the sex trafficking operation Girls Do Porn. They’re suing the company and its sites for sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and human trafficking.

The complaint, filed on Tuesday, includes what it claims are internal emails obtained by the plaintiffs, represented by Holm Law Group, between Pornhub moderation staff. The emails allegedly show that Pornhub had only one moderator to review 700,000 potentially abusive videos, and that the company intentionally ignored repeated reports from victims in those videos.

The damages and restitution they seek amounts to more than $311,100,000. They demand a jury trial, and seek damages of $5 million per plaintiff, as well as restitution for all the money Aylo, the new name for Pornhub’s parent company, earned “marketing, selling and exploiting Plaintiffs’ videos in an amount that exceeds one hundred thousand dollars for each plaintiff.”

The plaintiffs are 61 more unnamed “Jane Doe” victims of Girls Do Porn, adding to the 60 that sued Pornhub in 2020 for similar claims.
Girls Do Porn was a federally-convicted sex trafficking ring that coerced young women into filming pornographic videos under the pretense of “modeling” gigs. In some cases, the women were violently abused. The operators told them that the videos would never appear online, so that their home communities wouldn’t find out, but they uploaded the footage to sites like Pornhub, where the videos went viral—and in many instances, destroyed their lives. Girls Do Porn was an official Pornhub content partner, with its videos frequently appearing on the front page, where they gathered millions of views.

read more: https://www.404media.co/girls-do-porn-victims-sue-pornhub-for-300-million/

archive: https://archive.ph/zQWt3#selection-593.0-609.599

  • loopedcandle@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 year ago

    I am a regular consumer of online porn. And I'll admit, I loved their videos. Now knowing what was going on, that's on me to do some thinking, i have probably watched a rape and helped the perpetrator make money from that act. That's hard on the conscience. I don't know what to think about it.

    • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of the producers. You hold as much guilt for that action as anyone who has ever purchased a cell phone has for the conditions for the workers are subjected to. Which isn't to say 0, but it's so small that it may as well be.

    • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Really? You don't know how to feel about jerking off to rape? I know how to feel about you. POS.

      • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Cool, I know what to think about you. Irrational and judgemental.

        You're really going to place blame at a dude who just saw what was, presumably, some good, legal porn on a legitimate source, freely available to anyone? Rather than the producers? Or in anywhere near equal measure? Enough to call them a piece of shit? Man I'm glad I don't know you.

        • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not all.of us see porn as necessary or useful. Let alone a right. Yall are pathetic addicts in my eyes. And you are absolutely responsible for ensuring that the porn you watch is adult and consensual.

          • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            And you're a raging social deviant in my eyes, willing to attack someone trying to do better around something society deems acceptable. We can do this all day, sling mud, and shout into the void, or we can have an actual dialog.

            Also that's ridiculous. Anyone manufacturing anything is the responsible party for ensuring their stuff is safe. Or have you never heard of a manufacturer recall? It's the same principle. They made bad porn, they get the trouble.

            • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yes i am a social deviant.
              They made bad porn because people want it. People did this.

              • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                And they make computers and cell phones with slavery because we want it. It cuts both ways. Help people be better or sit down.

          • PurplePropagule@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            And you are absolutely responsible for ensuring that the porn you watch is adult and consensual.

            Well… no. But even if viewers were, how do you go about ensuring that it's abuse free? It's not like you can just google the production company. There are plenty of times where there aren't any publicly available allegations so you can never be sure. When it comes to amateur porn, how do you know if their partner is forcing them into it or not? There's no way to prove anything for sure unless there is a public record of allegations.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Charitable comment of the decade right there.

        Noticed how they said "what to think", not "how to feel"?

        • loopedcandle@lemmynsfw.com
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          1 year ago

          Jeez. I know how to feel about the act itself. It's awful of course. What I don't know is how to deal with is knowing that I did that. I can't change what I did and I can try my damnedest to not do it again. But how should I deal with knowing what I did and the guilt and shame post facto.

          • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            For the record my guy, eatthecake is a raging lunatic. Keep doing better. No one's perfect and realizing that some of the things you may have thought were ethical, aren't is a good first step.

            Don't beat yourself up over it. Everyone makes mistakes, and the true harm was already done when the film was shot. Your contribution to the harm is minimal.

          • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Maybe you should think about your actions more in future. Look into the consequences. Donate some money to a shelter. If you're actually sorry then you can try and contribute to helping the people you hurt. Kudos for recocgnising that you hsve caused hurt and caring.

        • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I doubt they have empathy, i also doubt the average porn watcher has empathy. Women have been screaming for years that the sex industry is abusive but we are howled down by the sex positive marketing industry. Its all about the money and men will pay for rape happily.

            • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Ok, i feel for the victims so that means i have no empathy right? I really do think tbe rapists and violent assholes can die in a fire. So i should die in a fire. I get it.

              • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                You're only extending empathy when it's convenient. I feel for the victims, the unknowing consumer, all of the other rape victims in the world, and you as well.

                • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  While I don't disagree, I haven't engaged with eatthecake for a reason.

                  I don't think you have to be a genius, to understand why someone might be so angry about this topic.

                  I think we can empathize with them, but that it's better not to engage.

                  • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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                    1 year ago

                    I disagree. There's a real benefit for engaging even the most delusional, if you have the energy. Personally, shooting down shitty arguments is fun for me, and let's me hone my own wit. Societally, you may have someone like the gent above who is expressing serious distress, and having the only voice coming back be that of… to be as charitable as possible, a troll can cause serious harm to an actual person. I think there's a value to simply expressing that others agree with you.

                    I absolutely understand being angry, that's why I advocate for aiming your anger. Build allies, and you stand a chance of making change, or bash in heads and you're left alone and overwhelmed.

                  • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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                    1 year ago

                    GET OUT OF MY BRAIN WITCH HOW DID YOU KNOW!

                    In all seriousness, yeah, I do, and I'm not going to defend that to you.

          • mrnotoriousman@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            You know "average porn watcher" includes a very large percentage of women too, right? Every single comment of yours is filled with hateful nonsense.