Judge Rules Pornhub Must Face Child Sexual Abuse Survivor’s Lawsuit
A United States District Court judge ruled last month that Pornhub must face a then-teen’s (Jane Doe) lawsuit after denying their motion for summary judgment. Pornhub and its parent company MindGeek (which changed its name to Aylo last year) are the defendants in this case.
The Christian Post reports that “Pornhub made no attempt to verify the identity of a 16-year-old girl whose abuser uploaded videos showing her rape and sexual exploitation, according to a lawsuit alleging that the company knowingly profited from child sex trafficking.”
Jane Doe is suing Pornhub for sex trafficking and possessing, creating, and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The court denied Pornhub’s assertion that they are immune from liability due to Section 230, which protects online companies from lawsuits based on user-generated content. This means that Jane Doe’s lawsuit will go to trial. The judge who denied the motion is Judge L. Scott Coogler in the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He wrote, “In sum, because defendants materially contributed to and developed the illegal content, Section 230(c) does not insulate defendants from liability.”
Per the Post, Jane Doe was only 16 in early 2018 when:
…her abuser filmed her engaging in a sexual act in his car, according to the document. The girl’s face was visible in the video that the man uploaded to his Pornhub account in February 2018.
The abuser participated in a program on Pornhub that enabled him to make money by uploading videos to the site. The pornography giant also profited off the revenue generated from views and downloads of the video depicting Jane Doe’s abuse.
The man is also accused of drugging Jane Doe and filming himself raping her in a hotel room, which he later uploaded to Pornhub in May 2020. The content uploaded online depicting Jane Doe’s abuse included 34 videos and six photo albums.
The perpetrator later pled guilty in April 2022 to “dissemination/display of obscene matter” involving someone younger than 17, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Jane Doe filed a class action lawsuit against the defendants in February 2021.
Per court documents, at no time did MindGeek or Pornhub attempt to verify Jane Doe’s identity or age, nor did they inquire about her being a victim of trafficking, despite the video portraying her being drugged and raped. The videos were sold, downloaded, viewed, and advertised on Pornhub.
The judge also brought up the algorithms Pornhub uses for its sites. He noted that they “utilize tags and keyword titles that help uploaders advertise and locate child sex abuse material.”
He continued, “…Defendants tracked how much traffic and profit each category and tag earned them – down to the dollar amount per month and per day for the most popular tags. For example, in October 201, the category “teen” was the 6th most popular category, earning over $150,000 that month, amounting to just over 30% of total revenue that month.”
Further, that same month, the tag “young” ranked number two, “teenager” ranked number three, and “teen” ranked 13, earning over $132,000, $117,000, and $54,000 respectively.
Prince Glover Hayes is proud to represent the very brave Jane Doe, and we will continue to fight for her and protect her.
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