Parent Company of Pornhub Acknowledges Profiting from Sex Trafficking

Pornhub has admitted to hosting adult videos that featured women being coerced into performing sex acts by a production company. The parent company, Aylo, has agreed to pay a $1.8 billion fine and compensate the sex trafficking victims as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors. While the company has pleaded not guilty to engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds, it has acknowledged that illegal material was posted on its site and expressed regret for this fact.

Aylo was not directly accused of violating federal sex trafficking laws, but the government stated that the company should have been aware that it was conducting business with a group involved in sex trafficking. As part of the agreement, Aylo will be monitored for three years, and the charges against the company will be dropped if it complies with the terms.

Between 2017 and 2019, Aylo was paid by a production company to stream pornography that Aylo knew included videos featuring women who did not give consent for the content to be posted online. Aylo admitted to this and it is documented in court records. In 2016, Aylo started receiving takedown requests from women in the videos who claimed they were deceived. Court documents also show that Aylo became aware of a federal lawsuit against the production company in 2017.

Aylo did not comply with all the takedown requests and did not attempt to verify independently if the women had consented to having the videos appear on the internet, according to prosecutors. Even after Aylo removed the production company's videos from Pornhub in 2019, some of the same videos were reposted by other users and continued to be online, as stated in court documents.

In a statement, Aylo, now under new management, expressed deep regret that the content was hosted on Pornhub.

The company expressed concern about the production company's use of illegal methods to create content and the fraudulent and coercive means by which consent documentation was obtained. It emphasized the importance of being vigilant against illegal use of their platforms and addressing evolving threats and challenges. Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stated that the deferred prosecution agreement holds the parent company of Pornhub.com accountable for hosting videos.

The FBI criticized the company for not taking swift action to remove the videos, stating that Aylo Holdings prioritized profit over the well-being of victims who had been deceived and coerced into participating in illicit sexual activity. FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Smith condemned the company's actions in a statement.

Aylo's new compliance director, Solomon Friedman, informed CNN that the company does not admit to any criminal liability. However, he stated that the company has implemented measures to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future. Aylo, based in Canada, operates multiple other sites including Mofos, YouPorn, and MyDirtyHobby, according to its website. The company is owned by a Canada-based private equity firm called Ethical Capital Partners.