The Federal Trade Commission and the state of Utah are taking action against the operators of Pornhub and other pornography-streaming sites over charges they deceived users by doing little to block tens of thousands of videos and photos featuring child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and nonconsensual material (NCM) despite claiming that this content was “strictly prohibited.”
As part of a proposed order settling the allegations, Pornhub’s operators, Aylo and its affiliated companies (collectively Aylo), will be required to establish a program to prevent the distribution of CSAM and NCM on its websites and pay a $5 million penalty to the state of Utah.
Aylo only decided to conduct audits of CSAM and NCM on its sites in 2020 when credit card processors threatened to impose fines or cut off access to their services and media started reporting on the issue. These audits revealed tens of thousands of CSAM and NCM videos. Even then, Aylo routinely ignored or overruled efforts by its compliance team to remove such content. For example, when a credit card processor threatened to fine Aylo for a content partner’s channel titled “PunishTeens” that included “Rape/Brutality,” the company removed the channel from Pornhub and Pornhub Premium but allowed the same content to remain on their other websites.