XVideos Visited More than Netflix, Amazon, and Wikipedia Combined
Washington, DC (March 19, 2021) – A class action lawsuit was filed against XVideos and its parent company, WebGroup Czech Republic (WGCZ), for trafficking Jane Doe, a victim of child sexual abuse material (child pornography) and sex trafficking. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Doe by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center (NCOSE) together with five other survivor-focused and commercial litigation law firms. Jane Doe represents the class of numerous victims who, as children, had their child sexual abuse images published and monetized by this online international pornography company. The case, Jane Doe v. WebGroup Czech Republic et al, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, in Los Angeles.
Plaintiff Jane Doe, using a pseudonym in litigation to protect her safety, is a victim and survivor of childhood sex trafficking. Videos of her childhood sexual abuse were sold, published, and distributed on websites owned and operated by XVideos, which commercially monetized the images. This violates the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, among other laws.
“XVideos not only violated the law by hosting Jane Doe’s child sexual abuse material, it profited from her abuse given that each image and video of her was monetized. This cannot be allowed to stand and remain unchallenged. Victims of childhood sexual abuse such as Jane Doe unequivocally deserve justice,” said Dani Pinter, senior legal counsel of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
XVideos boasts that it has 200 million daily visitors and 6 billion daily impressions on its various websites from which it has consolidated production and distribution. As of January 2021, XVideos is the most frequently visited pornography website in the world and the 7th most trafficked website in the world, visited more than Netflix, Amazon, and Wikipedia, with over 3 billion visits a month.
As a child, Jane Doe was trafficked and sold for sex. Many of these sex acts were recorded on video and uploaded to the XVideos website. At least four videos that included Jane Doe being trafficked as a minor have been identified on WGCZ sites. At least one “content partner” and official “channel” on XVideos disseminated these illegal videos of Jane Doe’s rape. This “content partner” continues to be a promoted channel on XVideos.
Neither XVideos, nor any other website, owned or operated by these Defendants undertook any measure to verify Jane Doe’s identity or age. As a result, child sex abuse material depicting Jane Doe was distributed broadly throughout the world on XVideos internet websites. During the time that XVideos distributed and advertised this child sex abuse material, it profited financially through the sale of advertising and by drawing users to its websites to view the videos.
“Jane Doe has courageously stepped out to share her story to help other victims of XVideos. We stand ready to help others who have experienced similar abuse at the hands of XVideos or any other WGCZ entities. It is time to end this pornography company’s abuses and egregious violations of the law,” Pinter added.
The legal team representing Jane Doe consists of:
The Zarzaur Law Firm of Birmingham, Alabama;
Kazerouni Law Group, APC of Costa Mesa, California;
Levin Papantonio Rafferty, of Pensacola, Florida;
Laffey, Bucci & Kent, LLP, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Conrad O’Brien PC, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, of Washington D.C.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center offers survivors of pornography-related abuse a way to seek justice. More information can be found at: https://sexualexploitationlawsuits.com/.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.
