Take Action: Pornhub = Traffickinghub

For years Pornhub, the world’s largest porn site, has marketed themselves as just another household name—as basic as breakfast cereal, as constant as the daily news. However, a single petition to shut down Pornhub is blowing the whistle. Today, we’re talking to the woman behind the movement.

Recent investigative reports have uncovered what many have long suspected: Pornhub profits from the commercial sex trafficking of minors. Meanwhile, they hide behind third-party immunity, claiming they are “not responsible” for the content uploaded to their site. And so far they’ve gotten away with it.

Lucky for us, we have a powerhouse on our side. Laila Mickelwait, director of abolition for Exodus Cry, has been working to combat sexual exploitation and sex trafficking for over a decade. Her research keeps bringing her back to the connection between trafficking and pornography. 

It didn’t take much to find Pornhub at the center of all this exploitation. Laila is particularly concerned with the minimal efforts taken to verify age and consent of those appearing in materials uploaded to the site. That is exactly what inspired her to start a petition to shut down the site–a petition that now has more than a half a million signatures, and more every day.

Set up for exploitation

If you’re a Media Savvy Moms fan, then the odds are you’re not a fan of Pornhub. Like us, you abhor the thought of anyone profiting from the exploitation of another human being. But even we were shocked at how low this company has gone to make a buck.

As Laila put it, Pornhub is “infested” with child rape videos and sex photos of underage teens. In one of these cases, Pornhub publicly admitted that a 15-year-old trafficked girl was a “verified” user. Laila explains that anyone can become “verified” on the site simply by holding up a piece of paper in front of the camera with a username written on it. UNBELIEVABLE!

Laila also reminded us that “Anyone under the age of 18 involved in commercial sex acts” (which Pornhub is) is being TRAFFICKED. This is an important definition to remember as we start to bridge the gap between trafficking and pornography.

Related: Ep #2.3, Human Trafficking: Closer Than You Think

Carefully considered, these are human rights violations. With billions of views and hundreds of millions of videos uploaded to the site each year, the reach of these crimes seems unfathomable. But for most families, the concern is … how does this impact my kids? 

Kids are just 2 clicks away

At any time kids are just a couple clicks away from accessing hard core pornography. Not just semi-inappropriate images—videos with horrific sex acts and full penetration that autoplay right on the home-page. No login. No age verification. Boom. Just like that.

Because it’s so easy to access, Pornhub is literally becoming the primary “sex educator” of this generation. And when kids get caught in that trap, they aren’t just privy to consensual adult content. They could very well be witnessing the sexual abuse and trafficking of peers.

It’s hard to talk about. And hard to hear. But we need to know these things! This is the reality that is Pornhub. (Note to parents: If you have not blocked this site on all your devices yet—STOP! Go do it. Right now!)

Related: Ep. #2.3, What is Pornhub? A Parent’s Guide

It’s not an accident that kids find their way to the site either. Pornhub uses subtle marketing strategies designed to target kids and normalize their product. One of their favorite tricks is to appropriate beloved pop culture icons. The Baby Yoda meme (pictured below) with Pornhub’s logo reflected in his eyes is one example. Laila describes several others. Tune in to learn more.

Pornhub and COVID-19

Ever two-faced, Pornhub wants to be recognized as a benevolent corporation reaching out to help society—sponsoring sports teams, offering scholarships, and doing service projects in the community. Their latest publicity stunt capitalizes on the COVID-19 crisis. 

Countries currently impacted by COVID-19 quarantine have been offered free 30-day access to their premium channel. Be mindful that this access is available to anyone—children included. In some countries, use of the site shot up near  60% (Italy; Spain). 

Nothing is ever truly free on Pornhub, Laila assures us. It’s simply another tactic to attract more customers and mine their data to increase revenue. 

How can we fight back?

Whew! We made it. We know the facts. Pornhub is a monster! So how can we fight against such a beast? Can our voices really make a difference?

Remember the petition? In just a few short weeks, it’s been able to gain more than half a million signatures! More and more people are signing every day. You can too. Just visit traffickinghub.com. Easy as that.

Momentum is important. This petition combined with public outcry and press coverage has spurred on other events. On March 8, for International Women’s Day, there was a protest in front of Pornhub/Mindgeek headquarters in Montreal, Canada. Our very own Marilyn was there! See if you can spot her holding a sign and cheering by the roadside in the news story below.

Inspired by this protest, two other significant events occured:

• Senators and Members of Parliament in Canada wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging the country to uphold laws prohibitting the distribution of material featuring victims of child sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, and sexual assault.
• U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, calling for a federal investigation into Pornhub and its owner MindGeek for their involvement in streaming videos of raped and exploited women and children. 

Stop and think about this chain reaction. What if we all started thinking like Laila? What if all our government leaders understood what was happening and took action? Imagine what we could accomplish!

Episode challenge

We can’t always take immediate action to help fix a monstrous issue like this. But today we can. Today’s challenge will take less than five minutes, and it WILL make a difference. Sign the petition to shut down Pornhub at traffickinghub.com. Then share the link with a friend and ask them to sign too.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the show, please leave a positive review or tell a friend!

More about today’s guest

Laila Mickelwait is the Director of Abolition for Exodus Cry. She has a Master of Public Diplomacy degree and has been working in the anti-trafficking field for over a decade, including time at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland with the World Federation of United Nations Associations Millennium Project. Laila’s writing and speaking have been published in outlets such as The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, BBC News, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Christian Post and others. 

Links/Resources

Follow Laila on Twitter @LailaMickelwait and Instagram @lailamickelwait 

Traffickinghub Website

Exodus Cry Website