STATEMENT – Pornhub Profits from Child Sexual Abuse Material and Must Be Investigated by DOJ  

NCOSE Press Statement logo

New Evidence from The New York Times Shows Pornhub “Monetizes Child Rapes, Revenge Pornography”

WASHINGTON, DC (December 4, 2020) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is calling on the Department of Justice to investigate Pornhub for profiting from child sexual abuse material, as new evidence from The New York Timesshows.

Nicholas Kristof of the Times reports, “Yet there’s another side of [Pornhub]: Its site is infested with rape videos. It monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags. A search for  ‘girls under18’  (no space) or ‘14yo’  leads in each case to more than 100,000 videos. Most aren’t of children being assaulted, but too many are.”

“How many victims of horrific abuse do we need to come forward before Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice will investigate and shut down Pornhub? Companies like Visa and MasterCard who partner with Pornhub are also profiting from the rape of children,” said Dawn Hawkins, senior vice president and executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “The evidence continues to grow that Pornhub, otherwise known as #Traffickinghub,  hosts videos of child rape, sex trafficked victims, non-consensual images, and other illegal content. The U.S. government must pursue justice for Pornhub’s countless victims.”

Dani Pinter, senior legal counsel of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, and mentioned as a lawyer for one of Pornhub’s victims in the Times piece, declared that survivors need justice. “As Kristof documents, victims are suicidal as a result of Pornhub’s criminal exploitation and monetization of their rape,” Pinter said. “Justice for survivors requires that this impunity ends now.”

Hawkins added, “Given Pornhub’s abuses, we also urgently call on Congress to pass the bipartisan EARN IT Act that would confront the explosion of online child sexual abuse material. Tech companies such as Pornhub, Twitter, Reddit, and Google (all mentioned in the article) must be held legally accountable for not creating the infrastructure to stop sexual abuse of children on their platforms. It is time to revoke the immunity that digital platforms use to avoid accountability.”

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.

The Numbers

300+

NCOSE leads the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation with over 300 member organizations.

100+

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has had over 100 policy victories since 2010. Each victory promotes human dignity above exploitation.

93

NCOSE’s activism campaigns and victories have made headlines around the globe. Averaging 93 mentions per week by media outlets and shows such as Today, CNN, The New York Times, BBC News, USA Today, Fox News and more.

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