Timeline of Pornhub's Questionable Business Practices

Disclaimer: Fight the New Drug is a non-religious and non-legislative awareness and education organization. Some of the issues discussed in this episode may be legislatively-affiliated. Though our organization is non-legislative, we fully support the fights against already illegal forms of pornography and sexual exploitation, and against sex trafficking.

Trigger Warning: Graphic descriptions of sex trafficking, child sexual abuse materials, and other forms of sexual exploitation are discussed during this conversation. Listener discretion is advised.

This week we’re bringing you a different, bonus episode discussing what’s been going on with one of the world’s largest porn sites, Pornhub, and its parent company, MindGeek. In December 2020, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof published an investigative column in the New York Times giving visibility to Pornhub’s questionable business practices, specifically highlighting how the porn tube site reportedly hosts and profits off of nonconsensual content, image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Since the New York Times exposé, a lot has happened in response, including Pornhub announcing changes to their platform and removing over 10 million videos from the site, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover suspending their payment processing services on Pornhub, and the Canadian House of Commons Ethics Committee (ETHI) launching an investigation into MindGeek for reportedly hosting videos of child sexual abuse, rape, sex trafficking, and nonconsensually-distributed content.

Please note that this is a developing story and ongoing investigation. For a recent, simplified timeline of events, please visit ftnd.org/phtimeline.

Click here to access the resources discussed in this episode.

To learn more about the harms of pornography on consumers, relationships, and its larger societal impacts, visit FTND.org.

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As you go about your day we invite you to increase your self-awareness, look both ways, check your blindspots, and consider before consuming.

Fight the New Drug collaborates with a variety of qualified organizations and individuals with varying personal beliefs, affiliations, and political persuasions. As FTND is a non-religious and non-legislative organization, the personal beliefs, affiliations, and persuasions of any of our team members or of those we collaborate with do not reflect or impact the mission of Fight the New Drug.