Last month, Motherboard reported on how Pornhub promotes and profits from Girls Do Porn, a company accused of coercing dozens of women into having sex on camera and spreading those videos on the internet—including on Pornhub, one of the most popular websites in the world. Twenty-two of those women are suing Girls Do Porn in a case that goes to trial this month.
The Girls Do Porn channel is a “Pornhub Content Partner,” meaning it has a contractual agreement that benefits both the channel and Pornhub through views and advertising.
Videos by VICE
On July 29, Pornhub told Motherboard that following our reporting, the company contacted the lawyers representing the women suing Girls Do Porn, to help identify content that featured plaintiffs—and subsequently removed it. Pornhub also removed Girls Do Porn branding from sections of the site directed at users, including the Pornhub Premium subscription FAQ page, which previously described Girls Do Porn content as “top shelf.”
Vice president of Pornhub Corey Price said in a statement:
Upon learning of this issue, Pornhub contacted the Girls Do Porn team to identify the videos in question so they could be removed from the Girls Do Porn channel. Since Girls Do Porn did not respond to our outreach efforts, we contacted the lawyer representing the plaintiffs in this case. With their help, we were able to confirm which videos belonged to the plaintiffs in this case, and immediately removed the videos from its site, as well as any other images that may feature one of the plaintiffs.
Despite removing several videos, banners, and some marketing copy referencing Girls Do Porn, Pornhub still hosts Girls Do Porn’s official channel, and dozens of its videos which have accumulated millions of views. Pornhub’s content partner page also still prominently features Girls Do Porn as a content partner and premium viewshare partner. In response to our question about why Pornhub continues to host and profit from videos produced by Girls Do Porn, the company responded with the following:
While not all of the Girls Do Porn videos are being accused of improprieties, we felt taking down certain videos — including all videos mentioned in the lawsuit and others — was the appropriate course of action for right now. We have a strict policy against non-consensual content, which violates our Terms of Service, and have various effective processes in place to rid it from our site. Girls Do Porn does not pay Pornhub for advertising. All GDP logos have been removed from consumer pages and we are removing them everywhere else.
The spokesperson also claimed that content that “directly violates our Terms of Service is removed as soon as we are made aware of it,” including non-consensual content. If someone does come across such content on Pornhub, the platform says it encourages users to flag such videos using a content removal request form, or send a DMCA takedown request. The uploader, they said, would then be subject to the platform’s “multiple infringer policy.”
It’s clear that Pornhub knows it’s partnered with a company that’s accused of abuse by many women, and who claim that the Pornhub helped spread videos that ruined their lives. What isn’t clear is why Pornhub continues to keep Girls Do Porn on its website, and profit from it.
Correction: This article originally conflated Pornhub’s content removal request process and DMCA takedown report form. We regret the error.