Outcome of Child Porn Lawsuit Against PornHub Can Create Issues for Sex Workers
Okay lets start with some context and background to this story. Back in 2013, an underage girl had a video of her uploaded to PornHub by her boyfriend. Girl then sued MindGeek, the company behind PornHub, for being extremly slow with the removal of the video. MindGeek even went as far as asking the girl to provide photos to prove she was the same child in video. The clip was eventually removed but quickly re-uploaded to other sites like RedTube and YouPorn, both owned by MindGeek.
Now lets pick up in the now, it comes to find out that VISA is also part of this lawsuit as a defendant alongside MindGeek. Why? Well, according the judge, VISA knew about the issue and gave MindGeek further tools to “Complete the Crime” of distributing child pornography. Further saying that VISA engaged in a criminal conspiracy with pornographers.
“When MindGeek decides to monetize child porn, and Visa decides to continue to allow its payment network to be used for that goal despite knowledge of MindGeek’s monetization of child porn, it is entirely foreseeable that victims of child porn like Plaintiff will suffer the harms that Plaintiff alleges”
On July 29th 2022, VISA had a motion denied by the court to be dropped from the lawsuit. Another argument that VISA had was that it was an innocent third party. But that was quickly shut down because VISA had cut ties with PornHub back in 2020 when numerous mentions of illegal videos and photos where on the site but eventually renewed business with PornHub.
It should also be mention that back in June 2022, two of the top execs of PornHub, COO - David Tassillo and Chief Eexecutive Feras Antoon, resigned due to all the allegations of underage, revenge porn and non-consensual acts uploaded to PornHub.
So we need to wait and see how this comes down as this could really see a change in how we pay and subscribe to adult content online. Will VISA just outright stop all partnerships with the adult industry or will they continue supporting adult content regardless of the outcome or will they adapt a new middle ground?
My take is that we all need keep an eye and ear to this case. It would also be smart to start preparing for worse case scenario. And if VISA stops support for the adult content, Mastercard could very easily follow suit. The next thing is how your typical subscription sites (think Brazzers, which also happens to be owned by MindGeek) and platforms for the independent creators like OnlyFans are going to react and how will they get paid. One common thing I have been hearing, even while I was at panels for XBIZ, was the use of crypto and NFTs. These types of currency can become the new way we do business in this world. And if that happens, good chances crypto will get a value resurgence. But that topic is for a whole other blog post.
References:
NYPost - Judge refuses to remove Visa from Pornhub child porn lawsuit
XBIZ - Billionaire Investor Bill Ackman, Anti-Porn Activist Laila Mickelwait Target Visa & Pornhub on CNBC
Written by Jay David
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