Canadian parliamentarians and NGOs call for Pornhub to be investigated for sexual violence and child pornography

The Pornhub logo on a stand at an adult event.ETHAN MILLER / AFP

Pornhub, the world's most successful adult content site, has come under fire.

Canadian parliamentarians and organizations have asked the federal government to open an investigation into the activities of this Montreal-based company.

They are based on a December 4 article in

The New York Times

that questions the use of images of alleged sexual exploitation and assault and child pornography.

In the article, journalist Nicholas Kristof wonders why Canada allows this firm to take advantage of these kinds of videos when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “calls himself a feminist and takes pride in his government's efforts to empower women in all the world".

With more than 42,000 million visits in 2019, Pornhub has positioned itself as one of the great sites on the Internet.

It belongs to MindGeek, a conglomerate of electronic platforms - mainly pornography - whose headquarters is located in Montreal (Quebec), but which is registered in Luxembourg for tax reasons.

Pornhub has also built its fame thanks to advertising campaigns, collaborations with celebrities and the dissemination of its traffic statistics.

“Your site is infested with rape videos.

It monetizes child abuse, revenge porn, hidden camera videos of women showering, racist and misogynistic content, and images of women suffocated in plastic bags.

The search for 'girls under 18 years' (no space) or '14 years' leads in each case to more than 100,000 videos, ”writes Kristof, who interviewed several victims.

Francis Fortin, professor of criminology at the University of Montreal, comments: “On Pornhub there are production companies that broadcast content, but there are also

amateur

videos

.

Many of these can destroy lives when there is no consent.

Regarding violence, platforms have long argued that there is no way to know if they are real images and that there are legal loopholes.

However, Canadian law is very clear and severe in the case of child pornography.

Fortin, who before joining academic life served as an analyst in cyber-surveillance in the Quebec Provincial Police, adds: “What is surprising, both in Pornhub and in other Internet firms that generate millions of dollars, is that they do not deploy all media to verify its contents.

For years, the discourse of these companies has been that they are just a vehicle, a messenger.

This idea cannot be justified in these times.

It is necessary to talk about the level of responsibility they have to ensure that their contents are not illegal.

Some have already taken certain steps after the pressure, like Facebook, but it is not a general trend ”.

The Canadian Center for Child Protection (based in Winnipeg) released a report on December 1 that highlights another problem: Most of the world's most popular websites and apps lack the tools to easily report child pornography.

This body reached this conclusion by analyzing content on Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, among other important actors.

He also did it with porn sites;

Pornhub was from one of them.

Pornhub cataloged

The New York Times

' accusations

as "irresponsible and flagrantly false", through an email released by

The Canadian Press.

The company noted that it has a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual abuse materials, and that it uses "a vast team of human moderators" to review content and remove illegal ones, along with automated detection technologies.

The same day the text appeared in the New York newspaper, Prime Minister Trudeau addressed the issue, although without specifically citing Pornhub.

“We are always very concerned about gender violence, the exploitation of minors and child pornography.

We will continue to work with the police and security agencies, under all possible avenues, to ensure that all Canadians are safe, ”he said.

For his part, Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage, indicated that the production, distribution, possession or access to child pornography constitutes a crime in Canada.

However, a group of MPs and senators called on Justice Minister David Lametti to crack down on Pornhub and MindGeek, as they believe they profit from "large-scale sex crimes."

The parliamentarians denounce the inaction of the Trudeau government, since it ignored a letter with the same arguments sent last March.

In that same month, an online petition began to circulate - launched by the Exodus Cry organization - to demand the closure of Pornhub for allowing and benefiting from the alleged rape and exploitation of women and minors.

So far, more than 1.2 million individuals have signed their support.

The London, Ontario Women's Abuse Center, which also holds Pornhub and MindGeek accountable, recalled on Twitter that “victims of revenge porn can experience significant damage to their mental health, including self-esteem problems, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, among other effects ”.

For her part, Marissa Kokkoros, director of Aura Freedom International (an organization founded in Canada to fight gender violence) pointed out in a statement the responsibility of Pornhub in the dissemination of images loaded with misogyny, cruelty, coercion and child abuse.

“People are watching these videos and they are becoming desensitized to violence and rape.

In addition, young people consume this content and form biased perceptions of what consensual sex is like, ”Kokkoros said.

Criticism also reached the Québec Assembly.

The Quebec Liberal Party demanded that Ottawa and the provincial government investigate Pornhub and take steps to effectively validate the identity, age and consent of any individual appearing on pornographic material sites.

After the uproar, Pornhub reported on Tuesday that in 2021 it will develop a system to verify the identity of users who want to upload videos.

At the moment, only pornographic production companies will be able to share their content.

Also, it will be impossible for users to download the images.

"And moderation will improve, we promise," the company said.

Steven Guilbeault said that "it is encouraging to see that online platforms are taking steps to address these issues," while acknowledging that stricter regulations and international collaboration are needed.

Trudeau declared on the same day that his government plans to introduce a bill to force Internet companies to remove illegal content.

For example, child pornography and hate messages.

In the same parliamentary session, Bill Blair, Minister of Public Security, said that he had contacted the Canadian Mounted Police so that this body offers its help to the Québec authorities on the Pornhub issue.

Visa and MasterCard had advised that they would investigate the firm.

This Thursday, MasterCard announced the end of its relationship with Pornhub;

Visa has temporarily suspended payment services with this porn site pending their investigation.

"Network companies must redouble their efforts by resorting to recognition and reporting tools.

Not just with artificial intelligence;

also with human monitoring, information shared with child protection organizations and security agencies.

We must resort to the legal means available.

It is difficult, although very commendable, the work of the police to arrest people in their basements, so the blow is stronger by attacking the problem from a large dealer, ”says Francis Fortin.

Child pornography and screen rape, among other scourges, don't just belong in the catacombs of the Internet.