Pornhub, a name once synonymous with the vast world of online adult entertainment, has a sinister underbelly that remains hidden behind its sleek interface. Despite new ownership and attempts at rebranding, the platform continues to be a hub for unverified, illegal content. This article delves into the dark reality of Pornhub, revealing how it remains a trafficking hub, perpetuating the trauma of countless victims while evading true accountability.
Pornhub: A Digital Crime Scene Pornhub is a crime scene. You read that right. The site, now owned by a hastily formed private equity firm called Ethical Capital Partners, continues to monetize and globally distribute countless user-generated sex videos. These videos were never reliably verified to ensure that the individuals in them are not children, rape victims, trafficking victims, or revenge porn victims. Even under new management, the site is still infested with illegal content.
A Dramatic Downfall Over the past few years, Pornhub has faced a dramatic downfall after being exposed and held accountable for profiting from mass sexual crime. The fallout included the site taking down 80% of its videos—totaling 10 million unverified videos and over 30 million images—being completely cut off by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and PayPal, and losing all mainstream advertisers. The CEO and COO of its parent company resigned in disgrace, and the distressed company was sold.
New Owners, Same Problems However, the new owners aren’t much better than the old ones. They renamed the parent company from “MindGeek” to “Aylo” in an attempt to distance it from its toxic reputation. Yet, men who have been with the company well before it was exposed—those who enabled the global distribution and monetization of victims’ trauma—still occupy executive offices.
The Public Face of a Dark Reality The public face of Pornhub’s new ownership, Canadian criminal defense attorney Solomon Friedman, has defended men accused of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. He even praised an attorney who got a man off on a technicality after being found with 7,730 images of child sexual abuse. Does he intend to try and get Pornhub off the hook the same way? The victims of Pornhub won’t allow it.
Immortalizing Trauma The consequences for victims of this abuse are severe. Victims often describe the widespread dissemination of their rape and abuse as the “immortalization” of their trauma. They could be fighting to remove their abuse from the internet for the rest of their lives. This constant battle leads many survivors to become suicidal, with nearly half of the victims contemplating suicide and some tragically dying by suicide.
Legal Battles and Explosive Evidence Since 2020, nearly 300 victims have sued Pornhub in 25 lawsuits for its knowing distribution and monetization of rape and trafficking. These lawsuits include multiple class actions representing tens of thousands of child victims, and the U.S. federal government has criminally charged Pornhub for knowingly profiting from sex trafficking. Just last month, 13 child victims sued Pornhub as well as its owners and financial enablers.
Whitewashing and Renaming No amount of whitewashing, renaming, and rebranding can hide the truth. As one attorney defending over 100 victims said about the attempted rebrand, “If you swim in a sea of s**t, it’s hard to lose the smell.” The Canadian government conducted a multi-year investigation of Pornhub, culminating in a damning report that found it had violated Canadian privacy law. Pornhub’s new owners sued the government to hide the report from the public but lost.
Still a Trafficking Hub A quick search on Pornhub today reveals highly monetized, unverified, homemade videos showing vulnerable, drug-addicted, homeless women being coerced into sex acts. In minutes, I found unverified homemade videos of women yelling at their abusers to stop, crying out “it hurts!” and “turn the camera off.” There is no doubt that Pornhub is still a trafficking hub. It’s time to force it to delete every unverified video on the site.
A Call for Justice But that isn’t nearly enough. Victims deserve the full weight of justice. They need to see criminal convictions and significant restitution for how their lives have been shattered. We urgently need laws mandating reliable, third-party age and consent verification for every individual in every video on every website distributing user-generated porn.
The Fight Continues It’s time to hold Pornhub and its owners accountable to the full extent of the law and to enact policies to prevent this kind of abuse in the future. We must do it because serious harm demands serious consequences to bring true justice to victims and deter future abusers.
Laila Mickelwait is the Founder and CEO of the Justice Defense Fund, Founder of the Traffickinghub movement, and the author of “Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape, and Sex Trafficking” (Penguin Random House/Thesis, July 23, 2024).
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Last Spots + International Guests: This Is Lalexpo 2026
The Lalexpo experience keeps growing! A new edition is coming, packed with high-level content, international guests, exclusive spaces, and activities designed to take the industry to the next level.
Ideas Without a Script: Conversations That Make an Impact
Ideas Without a Script is a space designed for real, unfiltered conversations with the people who are transforming the industry. A place where experiences, insights, and stories become inspiration.
In this first edition, the special guest will be Yeferson Cossio, one of the most influential content creators in Latin America, with millions of followers and a massive digital reach. Beyond his success on social media, he has established himself as an entrepreneur, developing high-level projects and collaborations.
A close and relaxed space to hear his stories, insights, and perspectives.
Limited spots available
Price: $84 USD
If you already have your Lalexpo ticket, you get 50% OFF
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Special Guests: Global Talent at Lalexpo
This year, we will host some of the most influential names in the adult entertainment industry worldwide:
Johnny Sins – American actor, director, and content creator, recognized as one of the most popular male talents in the industry. With nearly two decades of experience and over 3,000 productions, he has been inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame and has become a global icon.
Lily Phillips – British actress and content creator who has gained notoriety through her presence on digital platforms and viral projects that have sparked global conversation.
Jason Luv – Actor, director, and producer from Houston, known for his versatility and strong global positioning. In 2026, he surpassed one billion views, reinforcing his impact on the industry.
Yusuf Gattouz – Algerian model known as Gattouz, who has quickly positioned himself among the most viewed male talents worldwide, with hundreds of millions of views.
Lalexpo Awards: Voting Is Now Open
The official Lalexpo Awards voting is now live.
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Diva Traffic: Traffic Services Shut Down on February 20, 2026
Everything is changing in the camming industry. As a clear example, after years of being known as a traffic company—especially for promotion within the adult cams space—2026 is the year the industry says goodbye to Diva Traffic!
Behind this exit is an announcement posted by the company under the headline “Important Service Update.” Diva Traffic stated that effective February 20, 2026, it will discontinue its operations, including all traffic purchase services. The platform also noted that all previously purchased tokens must be used to activate traffic boost campaigns by that date, and that as of today, token purchases and subscriptions are no longer available.
The shutdown closes the chapter on a brand that, for some, was a useful promotional tool—and for others, a recurring source of controversy. Over time, countless rumors circulated across studios and among models, with many in the community alleging the service relied heavily on bots, fake clicks, and non-human traffic rather than real users.
Whatever side of the debate people were on, the outcome is now the same: a familiar name in cam-focused traffic services is exiting the scene, and studios and creators will need to rethink and adjust their promotion strategies moving forward.
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