Let’s be real, Pornhub is not exactly the legal platform it deems to be. Beneath its success as one of the forerunning porn sites on the internet are some twisted schemes, better left unseen.
Major credit card companies Visa, Mastercard and Discovery are cutting ties with Pornhub after a New York Times investigation exposed numerous non-consensual and underage sex flicks on the site. It’s also been revealed that some of the victims had attempted suicide because of the dangerous distribution of unconsented material.
Following the report, Pornhub addressed the issue by purging its site, including those uploaded by independent and legal sex workers, which has gone from a whopping 13.5 million to 4.7 million. The site also banned non-verified uploads and free downloads. And guess what, legal sex workers without any backing from any big porn production studios are on the receiving end of this decision.
For people like Laila Mickelwait, the answer to non-consensual, illegal material consumed online is not simply reducing content but abolishing Pornhub totally. Mickelwait founded Traffickinghub to call for the shutting down of the world’s leading porn site, arguing that it profits off rape and child trafficking videos, among other illegal material.
Many sex workers have ranted online and aired their grievances, mostly about threats on their earnings. It’s no secret that a lot of people in the sex industry rely on consumers to rake in good cash. Less audience, less income. The question, however, is, will Pornhub ever mediate and resolve all these intersecting problems?
We can only hope that justice can be served for victims, just as sex workers can go on with their daily job with lesser constraints.
Read more:
Does Pornhub’s new era mean #RevengePornIsOverParty?
Pornhub study confirms what we all know: a lot of us are hella horny
‘Scrubhub’ is Pornhub’s new hand sanitization initiative
Art by Yel Sayo