This week, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof launched a devastating exposé against Pornhub, ripping off the website’s “cheery” mask to expose a ruthless machine that profits from the sexual exploitation of children’s bodies. Kristof wrote movingly about Cali, a girl whose parents adopted her from China when she was 9 and forced her to appear in sexually abusive videos. Some of those videos were posted to Pornhub, she told Kristof, and even though she is now 23 and studying to become a lawyer, they are still available online. Cali fears that they will still be available when she’s 40.
“Pornhub became my trafficker,” she said. “I’m still getting sold, even though I’m five years out of that life...I may never be able to get away from this.” Other survivors shared the devastating fallout of these postings: drug addiction, mental health issues, homelessness, and the crushing sensation that they are powerless to fight their ceaseless victimization.
Advocates, including ECPAT-USA, have been calling for years for investigations into the online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that is posted on Pornhub, and while our voices have grown in number and strength, the NYT investigation intensified the call to action. In response to expressions of sympathy and offers of financial support for the brave survivors who came forward, Kristof noted that:
“we also need structural changes to help others and to prevent the exploitation from happening in the first place.”
In response to the original column and follow-up, ECPAT-USA is gratified to see the beginnings of such changes. We applaud both Visa and Mastercard in joining with Paypal to cut ties with Pornhub for hosting illegal and abusive content. The site itself announced Tuesday that it will be implementing three steps to fight the perpetuation and distribution of CSAM, but as Kristof noted, “We should all be suitably skeptical.” Online exploitation of children in the United States is rampant and only getting worse. In 2019, the National Center on Mission and Exploited Children reported over 45 million child sex abuse material images existed.
There is a role YOU can plan in stopping the epidemic of CSAM that is destroying the lives of children. Join ECPAT-USA in supporting the EARN IT Act, bipartisan legislation that will allow victims of CSAM to take action against online platforms that profit off their bodies. Please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to support the EARN IT Act. No child should be bought or sold for sex.
