If you were online in February 2020, you might remember a certain corner of the internet catching fire. That month marked the start of a campaign against Pornhub, accusing the site of disseminating illegal, non-consensual content. The movement, known as Traffickinghub, describes itself online as aiming to “[shut] down Pornhub and [hold] its executives accountable for enabling, distributing and profiting from rape, child abuse, sex trafficking and criminal image based sexual abuse.”
The allegations were shocking. The individual stories they highlighted, distressing. One featured a woman who says she was raped at 14 years old, after which videos of the attack ended up on Pornhub. “I sent Pornhub begging emails,” she told the BBC in 2020. “I pleaded with them. I wrote, ‘Please, I’m a minor, this was assault, please take it down.’” She says the videos were taken down after she threatened legal action, posing as a lawyer via email.
