Introduction: The Rise and Fall of the Adult Content Giant
Once hailed as the YouTube of adult entertainment, Pornhub—owned by MindGeek (now Aylo)—was among the world’s most visited websites. At its peak in 2020, it attracted 3.5 billion visits monthly, ahead of Netflix, Amazon, and Yahoo combined.
Yet a shocking expose, legal action, and mass content takedowns drastically altered the platform’s trajectory. Today, the site still remains popular—but under scrutiny and major change.
Pornhub’s Rise, Fall & Survival: Why It Collapsed and Why People Still Use It in 2025
2. Pornhub’s Early Dominance
By 2020, Pornhub was the 10th most visited site worldwide, making billions from ad revenue, free streaming, and premium subscriptions RedditWifiTalentsGitnux. The network included sister sites YouPorn, RedTube, Brazzers, and others, making MindGeek a dominant adult entertainment conglomerate.
3. The 2020 Scandal: The Children of Pornhub
NYT Exposé and #TraffickingHub Campaign
In December 2020, The New York Times published “The Children of Pornhub”, a devastating report exposing child sexual abuse, rape footage, and nonconsensual videos hosted on the platform. Activist Laila Mickelwait launched #TraffickingHub, drawing global attention and leading to lawsuits and activist pressure.
Payment Giants Cut Ties
Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and PayPal quickly dropped support, halting payment processing to Pornhub and crippling its ability to monetize.
Massive Takedown
Pornhub reportedly removed over 10 million videos—nearly 80% of its content—from unverified sources. It instituted strict upload guidelines, allowing only verified creators and studios.
4. Legal Fallout & Lawsuits
Class-Action Lawsuits
Survivors and victims—many from GirlsDoPorn—filed lawsuits claiming their non-consensual or exploitative videos remained online despite removal requests. One complaint cited over 34 women versus MindGeek for distributing videos featuring minors or coerced participants.
Racketeering Allegations
Some lawsuits compared MindGeek to a criminal enterprise for racketeering and trafficking facilitation, seeking millions in damages.
Deferred Prosecution
In late 2023, Aylo (formerly MindGeek) settled a case by agreeing to pay $1.8M in fines and compensate victims. The agreement also includes independent audits of content moderation for three years.
5. Ownership Change & Attempted Clean-Up
Acquisition by Ethical Capital Partners
In March 2023, Canadian equity firm Ethical Capital Partners acquired MindGeek/Aylo to spearhead reforms with a “safety-first” and “sex-positive” vision. They pledged full control and stronger moderation tools.
New Content Guidelines
Aylo implemented verified uploader requirements, law-enforcement portals, and licensing partnerships. Only verified creators can upload and profit, while unverified content is blocked or removed.
6. Audience Shift & Traffic Trends
Loss in U.S. Traffic
Multiple U.S. states—including Florida, Texas, and Indiana—implemented age-verification mandates, causing Pornhub to withdraw from those regions. This led to a VPN surge of up to 1150% among blocked users Reddit.
Creators have reported a decline in U.S.-based views—from 53% to 27%—reflecting local restrictions and shifting cultural attitudes.
Still Massive Global Usage
Despite setbacks, Pornhub remains one of the most visited adult websites, averaging between 3 to 3.5 billion visits per month in 2024–2025.
7. Why People Still Use Pornhub
Free Access & Brand Recall
Pornhub’s legacy and free content ecosystem still attract millions. Many users continue to access verified, high-quality videos under the new content policy—even without paying.
Expanded Safety & Moderation
Aylo has focused on improved moderation workflows, identity verification for uploaders, and compliance tools—making the site safer than many unverified alternatives.
Search & Cultural Presence
Pornhub dominates adult search queries globally. Viral events—like the recent “kiss-cam” scandal—triggered spikes in searches such as “office affair” (+18%), “cheating husband” (+31%), and more, highlighting strong brand visibility.
8. Industry Context & Online Porn Trends
The global adult industry is worth between USD 15–97 billion annually, depending on metrics and coverage.
Pornhub accounts for 30–33% of all adult web traffic globally, with over 28,000 users online at any given second and mobile making up over 70% of visits.
Demand for adult content remains stable, with over 20% of internet search queries related to sex or porn.
FAQs: Everything You Need to Know
Q1: What triggered Pornhub’s downfall?
A: The 2020 NYT article revealing child abuse and non-consensual videos triggered investigations, credit-card bans, and legal action—all forcing a radical transformation of the site’s operations.
Q2: Did Pornhub delete most of its content?
A: Yes—over 10 million videos (roughly 80%) from unverified users were purged within weeks in late 2020.
Q3: Who owns Pornhub now and what changed?
A: Ethical Capital Partners acquired MindGeek/Aylo in 2023 and pledged to overhaul content moderation, focusing on verified uploads and compliance tools.
Q4: Is Pornhub still illegal or under threat?
A: While the platform implemented reforms, it still faces lawsuits over content from GirlsDoPorn and other trafficking allegations. A deferred prosecution agreement was signed in 2023 with fines and audits.
Q5: Why are people still using Pornhub if it’s so controversial?
A: Brand familiarity, free access, improved moderation, and massive content catalogs keep users coming back. Many casual users don’t follow legal or payment developments closely.
Q6: Do credit cards still work on Pornhub?
A: Most major credit card services and payment platforms still refuse support. Premium access is limited to wire transfers, e-banks like Paxum, and cryptocurrency.
Q7: Did Pornhub lose viewers in the U.S.?
A: Yes. After laws requiring age verification were passed in many states, Pornhub withdrew service in those regions—driving a VPN usage spike and a drop in viewership from states like Florida.
9. Timeline at a Glance
Year | Key Event |
---|
Pre‑2020 | Pornhub dominates adult streaming worldwide. |
Dec 2020 | NYT exposé and credit card bans force content removal (~80%). |
2021 | Multiple lawsuits filed; internal turmoil at MindGeek. |
Mar 2023 | Ethical Capital Partners acquires MindGeek/Aylo; announces reforms. |
2023‑24 | Deferred prosecution settlement; fines; oversight mechanisms launched. |
2024‑25 | Continues global traffic, despite U.S. restrictions and viewership changes. |
Related Topics Worth Exploring
The rise of OnlyFans and how Pornhub’s monetization model adapted (Tiers, premium content).
Impact of age-verification laws in states like Florida, Texas, and their economic consequences on adult platforms.
The role of activism, especially Laila Mickelwait and #TraffickingHub, in prompting regulatory and financial consequences for Pornhub.
The emergence of VR porn platforms (SexLikeReal, etc.) changing user behavior as demand shifts toward immersive adult experiences.
Privacy risks of adult sites, including data tracking and leakage risks highlighted in academic research.
Final Takeaway
Pornhub did not die—but it underwent a near-fatal transformation. From its legacy as an online adult behemoth, it was thrust into public scandal and legal firestorms in 2020. The platform rebuilt itself under new ownership with stricter moderation and verification—but still relies heavily on brand recognition and loyal users.
Today, it balances improved safety protocols with persistent global usage—even while many users are unaware of its troubled past. For better or worse, Pornhub remains a cultural and commercial force in adult entertainment—though significantly altered in structure and perception from its pre‑2020 peak.
Pornhub in Crisis: The Fall, the Controversies & Its Ongoing Global Popularity
December 2018 A 15-year-old girl from a small city in Florida disappeared one day. Her parents lodged a police complaint but there was no trace of the girl. She did not know where she had seen her daughter. A video from Pion Hub showed that her daughter was seen with her in a shop.
Christopher and his partner were making videos of sexually assaulting the girl and uploading them on Pornhub, where there were not one or two but 58 videos, which were getting millions of views every day. The police once again starts the investigation. Christopher is arrested and the girl is also rescued from his clutches, but despite repeated requests by the police, the girl’s videos are not deleted from Pornhub.
For 7 months, the police keep sending requests to the company running Pornhub, but Pornhub does not take it seriously and the videos remain live on the website. When the matter reaches the court in the year 2020
Then a whistle blower and activist named Lala McKelvet notices this. When she investigates Porn Hub, some shocking revelations are made. It is revealed that Porn Hub has not just one but more than 7 lakh requests pending to remove such videos and the job of reviewing these requests is with just one person and he too does this work occasionally. Lala finds out how any video on Porn Hub, be it of rape, physical assault, child porn or animal sex, can be uploaded without any verification or cross check.
Lala then starts a campaign and that campaign continues until Porn Hub is ruined. Uploading rape videos in the name of rough sex, not tracking the real identity of the uploader, whose video is it, what is his age, what is the purpose of making the video, whether consent has been taken while making the video or not, Porn Hub is not concerned with all these things, it is concerned only with one thing and that is money. In this episode of Kissa, we will know how One girl ruined Porn Hub.
What happens in the back end of this dark industry which is away from headlines and news. What is the real cost behind the pleasure of 5 seconds. Why do the popular faces working in this industry often go away from it, go missing or commit suicide. Why is this industry a pleasure for a male actor and a disaster for a female?
In 2019, Porn Hub had jokingly said that if Porn Hub is shut down for 24 hours, the traffic on the Internet will be reduced by 30%. Statista’s report shows that in 2024, the most porn will be watched on Porn Hub, on an average 5.25 billion views every month, which is more than any other OTT platform like Netflix or Amazon. This data is even more surprising when it is known that 91% of the content currently present in Porn Hub has already been deleted. This is the situation now, when you are watching this video of ours, even then every second around 28,000 users are watching porn videos and every second around ₹.5 lakh is being spent on porn content, that too only on the Internet.
It is possible that for you this porn website is just a website which you have been using for a few seconds of pleasure and self-satisfaction. Even though you get to watch this content for free, but knowing the price paid behind it, you may be surprised You will regret that in the early days of the year 2000, when the internet was not mainstream, people were dependent on CDs and DVDs to watch all kinds of content. During that time, the biggest DVD company selling adult content was Vid Entertainment. In the year 2000, Vivid Entertainment’s yearly revenue was 100 million. According to a CNBC report, as the internet became popular year after year, video sharing platforms like YouTube and VMO started getting launched, which led to the decline in DVD sales.
Between 2005 and 2008, this sale fell by 86%. In the early days of the internet, four people emerged in America named Matt Keiser, Stephen Menoz, Ferras Anton and Awesome Yusuf. These four used to create different websites to earn money, websites for selling games, educational websites and all such things. In the year 2004, these people thought of creating an online porn website and started earning by uploading the content present in the DVDs on these websites. They divided these websites into two different segments, the first is pay to watch, i.e. pay money to watch porn, the second is free. Pay to watch means the facility to watch porn for free.
These were called tube sites because the idea behind it was stolen from YouTube. Just like people can watch videos for free on YouTube, similarly porn could be watched for free here, so these free porn websites were named Tube, such as Red Tube, Gay Tube, etc. The idea of these guys to make porn websites was quite successful. There was a boom in pay to watch websites, but an even bigger boom came on tube sites. These sites started becoming very popular and with this a problem also arose, the content uploaded on tube sites was not fresh.
All the porn videos that were uploaded on it were copied from somewhere else, so every day a lot of copyright claims started coming. To deal with this, these guys again used their brains. This time they opened their own production house and named it Brazzers. This production house was built exactly on the lines of Hollywood. The content produced in it was erotic. But as soon as the content control came into the hands of these guys, they wreaked havoc in the internet world. By the year 2007, tube sites started dominating the entire internet. In such a situation, one of these four guys used a little different brain.
Matt Keiser bought a domain name in the year 2007 by paying $3000. The name was Porn Hub, which proved to be a huge success. The reason was the ease of uploading videos on the website. Any person, any video, any kind of video, whether it is porn consensual or not, sex between lovers or any rape video. Even videos from child rape to animal sex could be easily uploaded on Porn Hub and could also be easily watched for free, that too with just one There is no verification through email ID and no cross check.
This feature of Porn Hub created a revolution in the world of porn. Porn Hub became the synonym of free porn website. People started coming here to fulfill their strange or criminal fantasies. Dirty and lustful people started watching videos of heinous crimes like rape and child porn here and soon this started creating problems. Legal issues started coming up. In such a situation, these four guys again used their brains. They did not want the world to know who is behind running free porn sites or Porn Hub or to be dragged into any legal issue. So they opened a new company named Manwin and then put all their porn websites inside this company.
But by March 2010, a fight started between these four founders. All four of them found their separate ways and sold all their porn websites to one person. The name of this buyer was Fabian Thylman. Fabian was a software engineer. He had a company called Mansef which created Nets. NETS or Next Generation Affiliate Tracking Software was a system that tracks users coming to any website, keeps a record of which ads, pop outs or banners they click on and then commissions are calculated through those clicks. This is how the porn industry will grow and become its biggest earning system in the coming times. We will understand further how it will become.
Now let us understand the development of the porn industry. Fabian Thielman started buying through commissions by earning through NETS. In 2006, he first bought the rights of porn sites like Playboy and then WebC. And then by 2010, he bought all the porn websites of Manwin, which included big porn sites like Porn Hub, Fake Taxi, Brazzers, Red Tube, X Videos. And with this, Fabian Thielman became the owner of almost all the porn being uploaded in the world. In the year 2012, Fabian merged his old company Manf and the newly bought company Manwin. The new company was named MindC.
And to grow the companies under it, he raised $350 million from the market. Raised funding whose major investors were JP Morgan Carlyle University and about 100 secret investors. MadGeek gave itself a new avatar by polishing itself and presented itself as a digital marketing company. With the new money, the new company started growing by leaps and bounds. All the adult websites or porn productions came under the control of MindGeek. Activist Lala McKelvet revealed in his research that in 2020, MindGeek had so many porn videos that if played continuously in a line, the length of these videos would be more than 170 years, that is, so many porn videos that kept running continuously for 170 years.
Till now you have come to know how the porn industry evolved. Now let us understand what is the source of income of the porn industry. Today there are more than 42 lakh porn websites on the internet, which is 12% of the entire internet. According to the Market Outlook report, between 2023 and 2031, this industry is growing with a growth of 5.2%. And by the end of 2031, this industry will be worth about 267 billion. The way of earning of the pay to watch porn industry is clear, take a subscription, pay money and consume adult content, but the earnings from this are very less. The major source of earning is free porn websites.
Let’s also understand how they are done. The first is the tracking system of Nets Fabian Thalmann, which tracks all the activities of the users coming to this website. Which ads did they click, which banners or pages did they click. All these clicks are counted and money is collected from the ad companies accordingly. Fabian’s company Mansef was an expert in this and due to this Fabian made a lot of money in a short time. The second is earning from premium subscription and exclusive content.
Many porn websites can be accessed only through subscription. Just like you watch OTTs like Netflix or Amazon Prime by paying money, similarly these porn websites can also be watched only by paying money. Apart from this, some premium content is also available on free porn sites, which have to be paid to watch. A lot of money is earned. The third is data mining and user analytics. In the early days of smartphones, when a lot of free apps started coming.
But many stars working in it have revealed that this is the worst and degraded industry where exploitation takes place under the guise of drugs and addiction, physical exploitation takes place, when sex turns into rape, nobody knows, sometimes it reaches to beating, one is forced to do such things which are neither legally correct nor natural and to perform all these things, porn stars are forced to take the help of drugs or alcohol.
Lana Rhodes, one of the top performers of the porn industry, had revealed that there is no positive work environment in this industry, girls are forced to do extreme activities, they are humiliated, to perform common acts like deep throat, female actresses have to take drugs to moisten their throat, to perform popular categories of sex like group sex, one has to take the help of intoxication, from here the exposure of drugs and alcohol increases and porn stars get addicted to it, to perform explicit acts, mainly girls have to take their you have to lose consciousness.
Mostly extreme scenes which we see in porn videos are performed under the influence of drugs or alcohol and due to this young adult stars get so addicted to drugs that they go into depression, the last stage of which is suicide or death. The well-known star of the industry Sophia Leone died at the age of 26. Investigation revealed that the cause of death was exploitation from the porn industry. She died due to drug and alcohol overdose. There is same news about Emily Williams, who died due to drug and alcohol abuse.
Thiana Fields committed suicide at the age of 24 after drug overdose and mental torture. This list is not small. Famous porn star Dakota Skye got addicted to a drug called fentanyl. It is a kind of pain killer and a relaxing drug that porn stars often take to manage the pain and mental torture during porn shoots. Dakota got addicted to it and died of drug overdose at the age of 27. He also died due toLo Ferrari tampered with her body parts to fulfill the disgusting desires of the porn industry. She underwent dozens of surgeries like breast enlargement, lip fillers and botox. She consumed a lot of medicines for the maintenance of these surgeries. Due to this, Lo Ferrari died at the age of 37 due to overdose of drugs prescribed by doctors. In some reports, it was also described as suicide. 23-year-old Olivia Lua was struggling with drug addiction. Later she also died.
Karen Lecome also committed suicide after overdose of drugs like tazepam. Olivia Nova gained popularity in a few years but she also died at the age of 20 due to cocaine addiction. The list of such actors is long and the majority of those who died are female porn stars. In such a situation, the question arises that when this industry is of such dark and exploitative nature, when girls are harassed so much here, then why so many people are drawn towards this industry every year? The answer to this is found in Lala McKelvet’s book Takedown.
Lala has described her fight against Porn Hub in this book in which she has revealed all the dark secrets of this industry. Lala says that in most cases, the reason for entering the porn industry is deception and compulsion. Majorly actresses are forced into this industry either forcefully or through tricks. They are not even disclosed about their actual work in the beginning. The biggest example is the industry’s most popular porn star Mia Khalifa. After leaving the industry, Mia Khalifa revealed in a podcast that how a person in Florida offered her modeling which gradually turned into nude modeling and pornography.
At the age of 21, she was made to sign some complicated contracts which she could not understand, nor did she have a lawyer to explain it to her. Mia says that the porn industry targets weak, financially weak and inexperienced girls, who are later exploited. Recently, an adult website Girl Do Porn The owners of Pornhub.com, Matthew Isaac and Michael Pred were sent to jail for 14 years. Both of them were also booked for tricking and forcefully getting girls to do porn shoots and uploading their videos without permission. The court found how these two men used to put clothing modeling ads on the internet. Through these ads, girls were hired. Initially, they were made to do fashion modeling. Then the girls of the company offered them semi-nude and then nude photoshoots. All this was done by luring them with more money.
They were told that all these photoshoots would be private and would not be published, but later they were secretly uploaded on the website. In January 2020, 22 victims troubled by Matthew and Michael came forward. They filed a case and both were sentenced to 14 years. The porn industry has always been full of exploitation for females and pleasure for males. However, males face some other kind of problems in this industry.
However, the victims of physical exploitation are mainly females. When does a porn video turn into a rape video? It is not known or the people who come to watch porn do not even know when they start watching rape and sexual offences on the website instead of porn and people watch these offensive videos with pleasure to fulfill their lust and fantasy and also download and share them which is another kind of crime.
Famous porn star Lana Rhodes revealed in a podcast in 2021 that how she was beaten during a shoot, she was subjected to much rough sex than what she was told, she was assaulted during the shoot and later that video was also uploaded without her consent. Many porn actresses like Alexa Grace, Jesse Jane, Tori Black have experienced beating, assault and unlawful behaviour during the shoot, which is being revealed every day.
Mia Khalifa had told how she was pressurised to do group sex or unnatural sex and if she refused, she was asked to do drugs so that all this work can be done easily after getting intoxicated. There is a porn video of Mia Khalifa in which she is shooting wearing a hijab. Regarding that video, Mian had also told how he was deliberately made to shoot that video by threatening him with a contract, and later it was uploaded without his consent, after which Mian even received death threats from ISIS.
Lala Mackelvet has told about the life of both female and male actors in her book Takedown. She has told how this life becomes more difficult for female porn stars than male porn stars. How male porn stars are always shown as dominant to cater to the users who like dominating culture. How females are assaulted on camera to cater to the dirty pleasure of users. They are forced to do unnatural sex or unhuman acts like deep throat, in which male porn stars enjoy and females suffer and bear pain. However, Lala has also told about some such male actors who have to sacrifice a lot for attractive personality or desirable size.
Their physical ability becomes a disaster for them. Denny had told that in his 8-year long career, he faced presapism thrice, which is a disaster situation in which erection lasts for 8 to 24 hours and sometimes up to 36 hours, which is very painful. In her book Takedown, Lala writes that not only watching porn but the personal life of the actors shooting porn has also been spoiled due to it. In real life, they are not able to be as romantic or expressive as they used to be earlier because performing under pressure for hours and drug addiction has changed them.
Porn actor James Deen, famous for wild and rough sex, was accused of sexual abuse and violent behavior by his former girlfriend Staya. Later, James admitted that to maintain his popular wild partner image in porn, he became addicted to drugs, which also affected his personal life and he used to become wild during intimacy. Frederick LeMond, who is known as Mango in the porn industry, is also known for his extreme penis size. Mendigo has done a sex act in which he has become addicted to drugs.
In the podcast, she had revealed that in the initial days, she was praised a lot for her size. People used to pay her a lot of money. Her demand in films was very high but gradually this size became a burden for her. To maintain her size and erection, she had to resort to drugs. Shoots would go on for hours in which she had to go to extreme situations to maintain the erection. Mendigo had said that at one point she started feeling that she was being physically assaulted. Even after being sexually and mentally assaulted and ruining their bodies with drugs, the earnings of these porn stars are not very good. The Mint report shows that in the production business, porn is the only content that earns the most profit at a low cost.
The production cost of some porn videos is not even Rs 1 lakh, whereas lakhs of rupees are earned from it. According to the report of Legal Service India.com, the earnings of actors in the global porn industry are decided on the basis of their experience and demand. Any actor earns from Rs 200 to Rs 1000 for a film. earns up to ₹15,000 i.e. from $15,000 to ₹75,000 but the production house earns crores of rupees from that movie. The condition of the Indian porn industry is very bad in terms of earnings. In March 2025 itself, an illegal porn production house running in a house in Sector 104 of Noida was busted. Where a couple used to call models and get porn shoots done and these porns were sold abroad.
The models were also made to do work like Only Fans or Live Chat. ED found records of foreign transactions worth more than ₹ 15 crore from this couple. Investigation revealed that this couple was earning in crores and porn videos were made by hiring models for a few thousand rupees. Money was earned through live camps. Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra was also accused of making and selling porn videos in a similar way. Mia Khalifa revealed in her podcast that despite being the most popular star in a long pornography career, Mia earned only $12,000 through porn, which is around ₹ 8,75,000 in Indian Rupees. If the popularity is compared with any other industry, then this money is very less.
However, Mia Khalifa is now active on platforms like Only Fans and is earning a lot independently. Now let’s come to the next On the question of how this porn affects your mind, the different categories present in porn sites reflect the perverted mentality or perverted fantasies of people. Zoophilic pornography is one of them. In common language, animal porn is where a person makes a video while having sex with an animal. Chikon porn is quite popular in Japan, where the harassment of girls in a train or bus is recorded. Japan’s own animation culture is now dominating the porn industry as well. Porns of superhero characters or famous personalities are made. Categories like hetai are emerging.
In 2018, the popular game Fortnite was launched, after which 60% of users on Porn Hub were searching for Fortnite sex. Statista’s data says that 1,35,000 new views are added every minute on each of the top three porn websites. In today’s time, everyone gets internet access at a very early age. Getting a phone and internet before time promotes pornographic exposure, which leads to porn addiction. The starting age of consuming this content is increasing from 11 to 13 years.
This content is being consumed the most in the age group of 16 to 22 years. Consuming adult content before time proves to be very dangerous because emotional and biological development does not take place in you till a certain age. When a person consumes adult content at a very early age, he loses his innocence at that very moment. His view of women relationship and the world changes completely and then even if he wants, he will never be able to think like he used to think before consuming that content. Sadly, today in our society, adult movies and porn videos are the biggest sex educators.
In these movies, it is shown that sex is nothing more than a male pleasure. These films portray an emotionless sex experience. If a list of the most popular sex terms is made, then the term dominating is included in the top list. It is said that Women likes to be dominated When 22 studies conducted in seven countries were combined, it was found that people who consume more adult content have more physical aggression.
Once you are caught in this loop, it becomes almost impossible to get out of it. Another research shows that our brain releases four times more dopamine. Its addiction can be very dangerous at any age, but it proves to be most dangerous in the early age.Now the question is why does this happen in early age. There is a frontal area of the brain in our forehead which judges which pleasure we need in what amount.
When the dopamine drive hits our mind, which promotes us to do any such activity which gives us pleasure, then this frontal area of the brain works to control that drive. On one hand, dopamine demands more, on the other hand, the frontal area of the brain forces us to think rationally. In early age, the frontal judgmental violation area is not fully developed.
The mind of a teenager does not know where to stop. When he enters this world of adult content, then his demand keeps on increasing and then this thing also affects his future relationships. In real life also, a person starts fantasizing the same things which he is watching through porn. India comes in the top three countries in terms of porn consumption.
According to the report of Porn Hub, from 2015 to 23, India America has been at number three in terms of porn consumption, with America at first and England at second According to a report by First Post, during the lockdown in 2020, porn consumption in India increased by 95%, putting India at the top of the list.
The same report by First Post says that 30% of Indian porn consumers are women, which is much more than the global female participation of 24% If we talk about age group, the maximum number of consumers are between 18 and 24 years of age, which makes up 44% If we talk about average watch time, a report by First Post published in 2018 shows that in India when a man sits to watch porn, he watches porn for on an average 8 minutes 23 seconds, while women spend a little more than men, i.e. 8 minutes 31 seconds.
India Today’s report shows that porn consumption is highest on Saturdays, while on Sundays it is a little less than Saturdays, while on festivals like Diwali, porn consumption decreases by up to 35% People are attracted towards porn To earn money, the porn industry also runs ads and offers just like any other fashion company.
In 2015, Pornhub started a campaign called Pornhub Cares, in which Pornhub claimed to plant a tree for every 100 video views. This campaign of Pornhub went viral and was jokingly called the campaign Paid by Porn. In 2020, during the lockdown, Pornhub started a campaign in Italy – Stay Home Stay Hard. This campaign also trended a lot on social media. At the beginning of this video, we told you a story of a missing girl from Florida, how her case came to light, after which Lala McKelvet noticed her and then Lala started a campaign against Pornhub.
After the Florida case came to light, in June 2021, 34 more girls accused Pornhub that their private videos were uploaded there without their consent or permission. After these complaints, criminal charges were filed against Pornhub’s parent company MindGeek in the US court.
A case was filed for revenge and uploading child porn. This is where the downfall of Porn Hub began. In 2021, despite so many cases against Porn Hub, it did not delete a single video from the website. All of them remained uploaded on the site as they were. In such a situation, Lala started a campaign. A signature campaign was run against Porn Hub across the world. 2.3 million people stood in favor of shutting down Porn Hub.
The hashtag Shutdown Pornhub kept trending on Twitter for months. Seeing so much outreach among the people, the Canadian Parliament decided to start an investigation against MindGeek because MindGeek had shifted its headquarters from the US to Canada. Seeing the outrage, major credit card companies and payment gateways ended all tie-ups with MindGeek, that is, now purchases or subscriptions on any of MindGeek’s porn sites cannot be made through their cards.
The subscriptions that were already running were also canceled. National Center on Sexual Exploitation asked Porn Hub to remove 1 crore videos that were uploaded non-consensually or were related to sexual assault or child porn. After completing the investigation, the committee in the Canadian Parliament took a big action against Porn Hub.
A report was released in which Porn Hub was accused of promoting such content which involved forceful x-child pornography unnatural sex. Along with this, the biggest order was that now every video uploaded on Porn Hub will be reviewed before uploading. There will be proper verification of who is uploading. Like before, only an email ID will not work so that if an immoral video is uploaded, the accused can be identified and arrested. Along with this, an order was also given to do a proper review of the entire website. According to Lala Mackelvet, after such a big action and accusation, the company’s owner Fabian Thylmann resigned from MindGig.
In 2020, PornHub had more than 56 million pornographic contents. After the orders of 2024, 91% of the content was deleted within 24 hours and only 5.2 million i.e. 52 lakh videos remained, although these videos are also very high in number. After Fabian left, the entire business of the company was taken over by an Austrian businessman Bernben. He polished Mind Geek and gave it a new face and named the new company iLO so that he could get rid of his old crime, but the disgrace had become so much that Bern also soon said goodbye to the company.
Even today iLO is the world’s largest company in terms of pornography. 80 to 90% of all the porn made and uploaded in the world is managed by iLO. In August 2015, the central government ordered to ban 857 porn websites in India. This decision was lifted after the order of the Supreme Court in which the Supreme Court said that watching porn privately can be a part of personal freedom, but in some incidents, incidents of banning porn kept happening many times. From 2015 to 2023.
India The government has banned more than 1414 porn websites Production and distribution of pornographic content is illegal in India. There is a provision for this in section 292 9394 of IPC, in which there is a provision of maximum 7 years of punishment if found guilty, but the question of whether watching porn is legal or illegal is still a bit complicated. According to the 2015 directive of the Supreme Court and the 2023 directive of the Kerala High Court, any person can watch porn privately at his private place.
Under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, there is legal exemption for this under personal freedom, provided it is not child porn or animal human porn. Producing porn, sharing it on social media or distributing it anywhere else is also completely illegal in India, that is, the overall thing is that while on one hand the porn industry is growing on a large scale in the world, the life of those working in it is no less than hell and those who are consuming it are also losing their innocence and harming themselves. What do you have to say about this porn industry, please tell us in the comment section.
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