Pornhub is 'profiting from revenge porn' says campaigner

Website claims non-consensual content is removed as soon as it is made aware

Sirena Bergman
Saturday 07 September 2019 15:57 BST
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The man claims his parents destroyed 12 boxes of porn films and two boxes of sex toys worth $28,940
The man claims his parents destroyed 12 boxes of porn films and two boxes of sex toys worth $28,940

Porn streaming sites such as Pornhub are profiting from revenge porn and therefore disinclined to remove it once reported, according to a campaign group.

On Friday, Kate Isaacs, founder of #NotYourPorn, appeared on BBC2's Victoria Derbyshire, discussing the case of a British woman who found a video of herself on Pornhub.

The anonymous woman, referred to as "Sophie", said that while the original video was taken down, clips were re-uploaded to the site.

She added that Pornhub was "not very helpful" when she requested they get taken down.

Ms Isaacs said she believes it is "next to impossible" to get videos removed when they feature someone who did not consent to them being used.

"The systems that [Pornhub] have in place are just for show," she continued.

Ms Isaacs told The Independent: "Pornhub’s profits come from advertising sales from clicks on videos, so any video that gains traction on the site makes them money from the hits."

Pornhub told the BBC that they had no record of Sophie's email, and added that it has one of "the most progressive anti-revenge-porn policy in the industry".

Corey Price, Pornhub vice president, said: “Content that is uploaded to Pornhub that directly violates our terms of service is removed as soon as we are made aware of it and this includes non-consensual content.

”In 2015, to further ensure the safety of all our fans, we officially took a hard stance against revenge porn, which we believe is a form of sexual assault, and introduced a submission form for the easy removal of non-consensual content.

“We also use a state-of-the-art third-party digital fingerprinting software, which scans any new uploads for potential matches to unauthorised material and makes sure the original video doesn't go back up on the platform.”

However Ms Isaacs claims that the site actively suggests searches like “leaked sex tapes” or “stolen videos”.

The Independent has contacted Pornhub for comment.

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