Pornhub has a serious problem
Women are continuously exploited for views on the platform
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The porn industry takes a significant chunk of traffic in today’s internet-fueled world. In 2019 alone, Pornhub, the world’s biggest porn site recorded over 42 billion visits. This roughly translates to 115 million visits per day. In the same year, the site recorded over 6.83 million new videos uploaded by users. The COVID-19 situation only seems to be fueling the growing consumption levels. But even so, the industry is facing some serious allegations, specifically the likes of Pornhub.
Laila Mickelwait’s online petition is accusing Pornhub of profiting from rape and sexual abuse content. With over 1 million signatures, the petition is an ongoing effort to “to hold the largest porn website in the world accountable for enabling and profiting off of the mass sex trafficking, rape, and exploitation of women and minors”.
In February, the BBC reported Rose Kalemba’s tragic story where she was raped as a 14-year-old back in 2009. Just months after her incident, videos of her abuse ended up on Pornhub. “I sent Pornhub begging emails. I pleaded with them. I wrote, ‘Please, I’m a minor, this was assault, please take it down.’”
But even as Rose pleaded with the company the videos remained on the site. It took her posing herself as a lawyer and threatening legal action to get the videos taken down.
Last October, there was also an incident of a missing teenage girl from Florida. The 15-year-old has been missing for almost a year until her mother discovered sexually explicit content on Pornhub. A 30-year-old Christopher Johnson was arrested in connection with the incident, accused of statutory rape. Johnson was discovered after the police found the girl appearing in…
