At the time of writing, over two million users have signed a petition to shut down Pornhub over continual allegations of aiding sexual trafficking and exploitation. This petition has since developed into global protests.
On Friday, activists from around the globe took to the streets, calling for leading pornographic site Pornhub to be shut down. The demonstrations, erupting in Los Angeles, Montreal, and London were organised as a result of a Change.org petition titled Shut Down Pornhub and Hold Its Executives Accountable for Aiding.
The #Traffickinghub campaign was created as “an effort to hold the largest porn website in the world accountable for enabling and profiting off of the mass sex trafficking, rape and exploitation of women and minors.” The petition has reportedly been signed by over two million people from over 192 countries, and lists a number of disturbing cases of trafficking, exploitation, and rape all connected to the site.
Started by Laila Micklewait, the petition is currently aiming for a total of 2,500,000 signatures, with numbers growing by the second. The final tally of signatures will be sent to a number of juries including Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, and The Department of Justice.
“Capitalist misogyny is not just a bit of fun. Women and children are not your masturbation slaves,” the petition’s most popular user comments reads.
Among a number of disturbing cases of negligence from Pornhub moderators are numerous videos of child sexual abuse and rape, all of which have been left unchecked on the site for years. This includes the case of a missing 15-year-old girl, who was eventually located by police after 58 videos of her sexual abuse were found on the site.
“Pornhub has a steadfast commitment to eradicating and fighting any and all illegal content on the internet, including non-consensual content and child sexual abuse material. Any suggestion otherwise is categorically and factually inaccurate,” Pornhub responded about the petition.
“While the wider tech community must continue to develop new methods to rid the internet of this horrific content, Pornhub is actively working to put in place state-of-the-art, comprehensive safeguards on its platform to combat this material.”
Former pornstar Mia Khalifa has been a vocal opposition to the site as well. Despite numerous attempts to have her content removed, the site has not complied.
Click here to find the petition.
