Aylo Holdings, the parent company of Pornhub, is set to pay $1.8 million to the U.S. government in resolution of charges related to profiting from sex trafficking.
Formerly known as MindGeek, the company has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, signifying a three-year oversight period by a designated monitor to ensure Aylo’s compliance efforts.
The controversy surrounding Pornhub and other adult content sites owned by Aylo revolves around a pattern of negligence in moderating third-party uploads, leading to the inclusion of sex trafficking victims in adult videos without their consent or knowledge.
The investigation conducted by the Eastern District of New York’s Attorney’s Office focuses specifically on a network called GirlsDoPorn (GDP), which has been posting videos on Pornhub and other Aylo platforms since 2009.
In 2019, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of California indicted GDP for sex trafficking, among other charges. Aylo’s court documents filed this week acknowledge that the company profited from GDP’s content, with authorities stating that Aylo “knew or should have known” about the non-consensual nature of the videos.
The press release further reveals that numerous women had submitted complaints to Aylo between 2016 and 2019, asserting that the videos were posted without their consent. However, the removal of GDP’s videos from Pornhub and other Aylo sites only occurred several months after GDP was found guilty of sex trafficking.
U.S. Attorney Breon Pearce commented on the resolution, stating, “This will not only provide oversight over one of the largest online content distributors but also develop industry-wide standards for safety and compliance.”
In 2020, Pornhub implemented several features, including banning video downloads and requiring user verification to post videos. Additionally, the platform engaged the services of the law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP for an independent review of content compliance.
The rebranded Aylo has experienced a tumultuous period, marked by a change in ownership to Ethical Capital Partners and the departure of MindGeek’s CEO and COO.
Recently, Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos were subjected to stringent regulation under the European Union’s Digital Services Act, emphasizing child protection provisions. The act may necessitate hard age checks, requiring users to verify their age and identity through official means.
Several states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, and Utah, have mandated age verification checks for adult websites in the United States. However, privacy advocates raise concerns about potential compromises to online anonymity and the security of verification tools.
The button line here is that Lawmakers are currently facing the challenge of striking a balance between internet regulation for safety and to avoid creating new privacy-related issues.