This week brought a momentous step forward in the fight against Pornhub and its parent company Aylo (formerly MindGeek).  

After facing several lawsuits brought by courageous survivors of sex trafficking and child sexual abuse  … After losing nearly all their major corporate partnerships including Visa and Mastercard, Instagram and Youtube … After being the subject of countless scathing media pieces … After a viral petition with more than 2 million signatures … Pornhub has FINALLY announced that it will be [kind of] verifying the age and consent of all individuals depicted in videos.  

We celebrate this victory for survivors, whose resilience and bravery have been unmatched as they brought lawsuits and global attention to this kingpin of exploitation. At the same time, we urge caution. The loopholes in Pornhub’s new verification measures are abundant, and the policy change does not go far enough in removing and preventing sexual abuse.

The NCOSE Law Center is representing survivors in two lawsuits against Pornhub and its parent company Aylo. As our survivor clients always remain free of charge, your support is a big part of what makes these lawsuits possible. Please consider a donation, so that we can ensure Pornhub/Aylo faces legal consequences for years of participation in mass sexual crime! 

“AI-generated sexual abuse is a growing threat and we are saddened that it has happened to Taylor Swift. X, Telegram, and other sites like Mr. Deepfakes and Celeb Jihad are responsible for perpetuating this horrific abuse. We are grateful that Ms. Swift is speaking out to confront this abuse, and we hope that she can receive justice for these crimes,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO, National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

“Congress must urgently work to protect all survivors of AI generated deepfake pornography by passing the PROTECT Act, which aims to compel tech platforms to implement stringent age and consent verification, significantly reducing the spread of child sexual abuse and image-based sexual abuse. The PROTECT Act fills a gap in existing law that allows pornography to be created, uploaded, and distributed online without the consent of the persons depicted in the material with little or no concern for consequences.

Microsoft's GitHub is the go-to place for creating AI-generated sexual abuse images. Demand Microsoft crack down on this egregious violation of human rights!  

By: Teresa Helm, Public Policy Outreach Manager and Survivor Services Coordinator, NCOSE

In 2002 I made a decision to transfer from massage therapy school in Ohio to one in Los Angeles. I was attending school in LA full-time while simultaneously working at the school full-time. I felt as though I practically lived there.

One day while working, another female student approached me with what she presented as a job opportunity.

It was the commencement of the grooming process that would result in me walking myself to the home of Jeffrey Epstein under fraudulent intentions, conditions, and under the guise of a job interview as a traveling massage therapist.

Some Big Tech players are reading the writing on the wall and realizing that common sense reforms to protect children are online are vital and inevitable at the legislative level. Snapchat has just endorsed the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill NCOSE has been working to pass which holds social media platforms accountable to protecting children.

We hope and expect more tech companies will recognize it's better to be on the side of child safety than profit at any cost.

Gratefully,