(LifeSiteNews) — Canada’s ugliest export, Pornhub, has faced a wave of bad press over the past several years. Once owned by the Montreal-based company Mindgeek, the world’s largest porn monopoly changed hands recently, and is now operated by Aylo Holdings (also based in Montreal). Pornhub is the mothership of smut, and anti-porn activists have long had its parent companies in their crosshairs.
But as I have noted earlier in this space, the first activist to achieve real success in the war against Pornhub is Laila Mickelwait, who launched the global #Traffickinghub movement in 2020 to expose the staggering amount of non-consensual material posted to the site. Her exposés led to an investigation by Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times titled “The Children of Pornhub,” which detailed evidence of child abuse, included interviews with victims, and noted that the site “is infested with rape videos …[i]t monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cams of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags … Most aren’t of children being assaulted, but too many are.”
His conclusion: “Pornhub is Jeffrey Epstein times 1,000.”
READ: New study shows how violent pornography can turn men into psychopaths
In response, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover cut ties with Pornhub, and many major advertisers, including Comcast, Xfinity, Roku, and Heinz cut ties with the porn giant. As Mickelwait posted example after example of sexual violence on Pornhub, the smut giant panicked and deleted millions of videos.
Mindgeek sold their lucrative but dangerous asset as a wave of lawsuits from victims were launched, and one of the new owners – Jewish Rabbi Solomon Friedman – embarked on a publicity tour to convince the world that Pornhub had changed, sitting down with Valuetainment’s Patrick Bet-David and Canada’s National Post.
Mickelwait has responded with a counter-tour of her own to highlight Pornhub’s ongoing crimes, including a viral interview with popular podcaster and comedian Theo Von, who has spoken out regularly about why and how pornography has harmed his life.
Pornhub is a powerhouse but so, as it turns out, is Mickelwait. It is a David and Goliath fight that has achieved more than I thought possible when the #Traffickinghub campaign launched.
Mickelwait’s work is an incessant thorn in the side of Friedman and other porn-pushers. On March 3, Reuters reported that Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne is still very concerned about the site, and is now “seeking a court order against the operator of Pornhub and other adult entertainment websites to ensure it obtained the consent of people whose images were featured.” This, Dufresne noted, is the second time in a year that he has had to publicly express his concerns about Aylo Holdings; in February 2024, he noted that “it broke privacy laws by allowing the sharing of intimate images without the direct knowledge or permission of everyone depicted.”
“To date, Aylo has not adequately addressed the significant concerns that were identified in my investigation. Privacy is a fundamental right, and individuals must be protected,” Dufresne stated. Alex Kekesi, Aylo’s “vice-president for brand and community,” responded by claiming that Pornhub is doing nothing wrong:
We have been in productive dialogue with the OPC since last year about the potential of a compliance agreement, so we are disappointed and surprised to see them take this action, and we will respond in due course.
READ: Michigan school board proposes teaching ‘impacts of pornography’ to 6th graders despite young age
I would not be surprised if Pornhub is hastily deleting more videos before issuing their response. According to Reuters:
Dufresne launched a probe after a woman discovered her ex-boyfriend had uploaded an intimate video and other images of her to Aylo’s websites without her consent. In February 2024, Aylo said the incident that prompted the woman to complain had occurred in 2015 and since then the firm has taken several steps to keep illegal material off the site.
According to Mickelwait, Pornhub’s claims of reform are farcical, and the site still constitutes a “crime scene.” Her activism is keeping the porn giant relentlessly under the microscope, and with a number of lawsuits still underway, Pornhub’s problems are, thankfully, far from over.
Any survey of Mickelwait’s work makes it clear: this festering crime scene should be shut down for good.
