Instagram has removed Pornhub’s account on the social media platform following “mounting evidence” of alleged criminality stacked against the online adult entertainment company, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) told The Daily Wire in an emailed statement.
Dawn Hawkins, CEO of NCOSE, which has been exposing links between all forms of sexual exploitation and the public health harms of pornography since 1962, said Instagram made the right move by suspending Pornhub from its platform “for violating its community standards given the increasing reports of Pornhub hosting child sexual abuse material, sex trafficking, filmed rape, and non-consensual videos and images.”
“Instagram served as a distribution partner with this criminal enterprise, helping to push millions to their website, including children,” Hawkins said.
Pornhub had over 13 million followers on Instagram before the social media platform shut down the account.
While the account shared non-pornographic images and videos, Hawkins said it allegedly posted and promoted sexually graphic pornographic content while encouraging its audience through videos like “Next Career Goal” to become a performer.
Hawkins, who accused Instagram of endorsing the online adult entertainment giant by verifying the page with a “blue check” despite alleged evidence of illegal activity against children and adults, applauded the social media platform for taking down the site’s account on its platform.
“Instagram is courageously choosing to stop partnering with Pornhub, and it is time for all corporate entities to follow its example,” Hawkins said.
Variety reports that Instagram’s parent company, Meta, did not respond to a request for comment.
Pornhub has recently come under fire after both Visa and Mastercard cut off payment privileges with MindGeek, the site’s parent company, and its advertising arm, TrafficJunky. The move from the payment processing companies followed a federal judge ruling last month that it was reasonable to conclude Visa knowingly ‘intended to help monetize child pornography’ on Pornhub and other sites operated by MindGeek in the Fleites v. MindGeek lawsuit.
Plaintiff Serena Fleites filed the lawsuit last year, alleging MindGeek violated federal sex trafficking and child pornography laws. Such violations led credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard to suspend processing payments on Pornhub following a New York Times report revealing illegal content on its website.
Fleites alleges a former boyfriend pressured her into making a sexually explicit video and uploaded it to Pornhub without her knowledge or consent when she was 13 years old. The video garnered millions of views and spiraled the plaintiff’s life out of control.
A Visa spokesperson said the company “condemns sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, and child sexual abuse materials as repugnant to our values and purpose as a company,” adding that the pre-trial ruling mischaracterized Visa’s role, policies, and practices.
MindGeek said in a previous statement reported by The Daily Wire that it has “zero tolerance for the posting of illegal content on its platforms and has instituted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history.”
“Any insinuation that MindGeek does not take the elimination of illegal material seriously is categorically false,” the statement said.
The company also claims to have banned uploads from anyone who has not submitted government-issued identification that passes a third-party verification while eliminating the ability to download free content.
Laila Mickelwait, founder and CEO of Justice Defense Fund, a nonprofit that has opposed Pornhub since it has been accused of having ties with the sex trafficking of minors, also hailed Instagram’s move as the right decision.
“It is worth remembering that it’s illegal in the United States according to the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act to knowingly benefit from a sex trafficking venture,” Mickelwait said.
Instagram joins Visa, Mastercard, Discover, PayPal, Grant Thornton, Heinz, Unilever, Roku, and many other companies in rejecting to do business with Pornhub, Mickelwait said, adding that other tech platforms and search engines like Google search, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Reflected Networks should follow suit.
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