Post by account_disabled on Feb 26, 2024 23:46:14 GMT -5
Hello I am a minor and many videos and photos of me were published here,” Rachel wrote to Pornhub – a digital platform classified as adult content – to report that they stop replicating graphic material where she appeared and that was ruining her life. In response, the site asked her for the link to each video, titles and screenshots, so there came a time when it was impossible to track them, and the young woman ended up giving up.
According to The New Yorker , Rachel's case is just one of many against MindGeek, the company that owns Pornhub, for publishing non-consensual content. This situation has once again opened debates about whether it is possible to force the porn industry to be responsible.
responsibility to the porn industry
The pornography industry
Pornhub is one of the most popular adult video Chinese American Phone Number List sites on the Internet in the world — it receives about 28.5 billion visits a year. And while it is difficult to know his earnings, it is estimated that his income ranges between $9 billion and $97 billion annually.
This is an example of how profitable this industry is, which has attempted to regulate - with efforts such as the United Kingdom initiative that aims to protect minors from explicit content on pornography websites , by verifying their age - but also, in which loopholes abound that exempt suppliers from any responsibility.
Pornhub could be an example of this; its owner, the company MindGeek, has been criticized for not handling its content carefully and cautiously. An investigation by The New York Times reported that searches on the site returned thousands of results in which minors appeared.
In addition, the author of the article, Nicholas Kristof, told several stories of victims of abuse and violence who had found the videos of their attacks on the platform, despite the fact that MindGeek stated in its policies to ensure not to feature minors and filter the videos. materials.
responsibility to the porn industry
Is there liability in the porn industry?
MindGeek, like Facebook, relies on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, issued in the United States, which establishes that an "interactive computer service" cannot be treated as a publisher of information provided by a third. If sites face a complaint or complaint about videos, showing sexual content, or other content uploaded without consent, the amendment exempts them from liability.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit organization, notes that this has caused the online pornography industry to grow with little judgment or oversight over its activities.
Profit before responsibility
Although MindGeek would be generating large profits from the sale of its advertising space, it has invested little in "content formatters" - personnel who review the videos before being approved by the platform - according to a former employee of the company. media The New Yorker.
As the aforementioned source points out, under the argument that many of those who upload content use virtual private networks to disguise their identities and locations, the "formatters" do not notify the incidents to the authority.
In this regard, an anonymous spokesperson for MindGeek said that it was a misunderstanding of the process. Formatter managers were responsible for reporting suspicious material to law enforcement.
It should be noted that the corporation earns approximately half of its revenue by selling advertisements on its websites . It also charges fees to some users for access and enters into profit-sharing agreements with porn producers, charging a commission on the latter's earnings. To achieve this chain, web traffic is essential.
Reform the porn industry
According to Laila Mickelwait—anti-trafficking and child pornography activist and founder and executive director of the Justice Defense Fund—the only way to reform the porn industry is to hold its leaders accountable for the content on their sites.
"This doesn't mean the end of the porn industry, it means making the industry operate legally."
Laila Mickelwait, founder and executive director of the Justice Defense Fund.
She noticed that some porn artists agreed with her work. Actress Allie Eve Knox even told her that non-consensual content and child sexual abuse material on Pornhub made the industry less safe for professionals. She thus started the #Traffickinghub campaign, which seeks concrete regulations on pornography.
One of the most significant efforts in this area was carried out in March 2020 by the Canadian parliament, which asked to investigate MindGeek. Following the legislative request, the company registered for the first time with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and delivered more than thirteen thousand videos of material suspected of child sexual abuse.
Social activism to hold the industry accountable
This was followed by MindGeek's new policy, requiring all users to verify their identities through a third-party website before uploading videos. In addition to announcing that it would deactivate millions of videos from unregistered users.
It also sent parliament a letter outlining its new policies, as well as promising even more rigorous ones in the future. The company claimed it had been developing software to identify and remove videos without consent, which it planned to make available to other online platforms.
According to The New Yorker , Rachel's case is just one of many against MindGeek, the company that owns Pornhub, for publishing non-consensual content. This situation has once again opened debates about whether it is possible to force the porn industry to be responsible.
responsibility to the porn industry
The pornography industry
Pornhub is one of the most popular adult video Chinese American Phone Number List sites on the Internet in the world — it receives about 28.5 billion visits a year. And while it is difficult to know his earnings, it is estimated that his income ranges between $9 billion and $97 billion annually.
This is an example of how profitable this industry is, which has attempted to regulate - with efforts such as the United Kingdom initiative that aims to protect minors from explicit content on pornography websites , by verifying their age - but also, in which loopholes abound that exempt suppliers from any responsibility.
Pornhub could be an example of this; its owner, the company MindGeek, has been criticized for not handling its content carefully and cautiously. An investigation by The New York Times reported that searches on the site returned thousands of results in which minors appeared.
In addition, the author of the article, Nicholas Kristof, told several stories of victims of abuse and violence who had found the videos of their attacks on the platform, despite the fact that MindGeek stated in its policies to ensure not to feature minors and filter the videos. materials.
responsibility to the porn industry
Is there liability in the porn industry?
MindGeek, like Facebook, relies on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, issued in the United States, which establishes that an "interactive computer service" cannot be treated as a publisher of information provided by a third. If sites face a complaint or complaint about videos, showing sexual content, or other content uploaded without consent, the amendment exempts them from liability.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit organization, notes that this has caused the online pornography industry to grow with little judgment or oversight over its activities.
Profit before responsibility
Although MindGeek would be generating large profits from the sale of its advertising space, it has invested little in "content formatters" - personnel who review the videos before being approved by the platform - according to a former employee of the company. media The New Yorker.
As the aforementioned source points out, under the argument that many of those who upload content use virtual private networks to disguise their identities and locations, the "formatters" do not notify the incidents to the authority.
In this regard, an anonymous spokesperson for MindGeek said that it was a misunderstanding of the process. Formatter managers were responsible for reporting suspicious material to law enforcement.
It should be noted that the corporation earns approximately half of its revenue by selling advertisements on its websites . It also charges fees to some users for access and enters into profit-sharing agreements with porn producers, charging a commission on the latter's earnings. To achieve this chain, web traffic is essential.
Reform the porn industry
According to Laila Mickelwait—anti-trafficking and child pornography activist and founder and executive director of the Justice Defense Fund—the only way to reform the porn industry is to hold its leaders accountable for the content on their sites.
"This doesn't mean the end of the porn industry, it means making the industry operate legally."
Laila Mickelwait, founder and executive director of the Justice Defense Fund.
She noticed that some porn artists agreed with her work. Actress Allie Eve Knox even told her that non-consensual content and child sexual abuse material on Pornhub made the industry less safe for professionals. She thus started the #Traffickinghub campaign, which seeks concrete regulations on pornography.
One of the most significant efforts in this area was carried out in March 2020 by the Canadian parliament, which asked to investigate MindGeek. Following the legislative request, the company registered for the first time with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and delivered more than thirteen thousand videos of material suspected of child sexual abuse.
Social activism to hold the industry accountable
This was followed by MindGeek's new policy, requiring all users to verify their identities through a third-party website before uploading videos. In addition to announcing that it would deactivate millions of videos from unregistered users.
It also sent parliament a letter outlining its new policies, as well as promising even more rigorous ones in the future. The company claimed it had been developing software to identify and remove videos without consent, which it planned to make available to other online platforms.