Aylo Holdings, the parent company of Pornhub, reached what is called a ‘deferred prosecution agreement’ in New York this week to resolve a charge leveled at the company that Pornhub was engaging in “unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking.” This deal calls for Aylo to cough up $1.8 million to the US government (Aylo is Montreal-based) as well as make separate individual payments to the women harmed by this trafficking.
Pornhub got into trouble hosting videos and taking payments for a company called GirlsDoPorn. This company, now defunct, was found guilty of sex trafficking. Pornhub was duped into believing that GirlsDoPorn’s performer consent forms were signed with full consent of the performers, when in fact, it was found that many of their performers were coerced into signing. There were also other counts of fraud found perpetrated by GirlsDoPorn, as well as convictions made that they were coercing young women into engaging in sexual acts on camera, which were indeed posted on Pornhub as well as other platforms.
A further charge against Aylo is that Pornhub did not act swiftly enough to remove the GirlsDoPorn videos once complaints were aired by women who were harmed.
It is important to note that Aylo was not found guilty of any federal crime of sex trafficking, and they are not pleading guilty to any crime of this nature. This is why the charges will be dismissed after three years if Aylo continues their compliance with the Deferred Prosecution Agreement.
Taking a line out of “The Godfather Part II,” as the character Hyman Roth tries to educate Michael Corleone on a piece of their shared criminal business, he says, “This is the business we've chosen.” In the business of creating and disseminating adult content, be that content visual, audio or written (as this piece is), being assured of the legal age of performers/creators as well as viewers (readers etc.), and their ability to legally consent to what they are doing/looking at, should top the list of all of our concerns.
As this is indeed the business we've chosen.
