![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/cdn.christianpost.com\/assets\/img\/icon\/chat-rect.svg\")
<\/a>![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/cdn.christianpost.com\/assets\/img\/icon\/share-outline.svg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.christianpost.com\/images\/cache\/image\/14\/18\/141850_w_760_530.webp\")
<\/source><\/picture>A longtime MindGeek employee was captured in an undercover video admitting that management at Pornhub is aware that rapists and traffickers exploit a \u201cloophole\u201d in the site\u2019s verification measures to profit from sexually exploitative videos.<\/p>\n
Last week, Sound Investigations\u00a0released<\/a> an undercover video showing Mike Farley, a technical product manager at MindGeek, Pornhub\u2019s parent company, which recently renamed itself Aylo, revealing that users can bypass Pornhub\u2019s age and consent verification process for uploading sexually explicit content if the faces are not visible in the videos. These videos can then be monetized, a feature that the technical product manager alleged that rapists and sex traffickers use \u201cto make a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n According to an archived LinkedIn page<\/a>, Farley has worked for the company for 10 years.<\/p>\n When asked by the undercover operative why the company doesn\u2019t try to close the loophole, Farley replied that doing so would cost money and would also be \u201ccounterintuitive to the business.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve brought it up to the CPO [chief product officer]. We\u2019ve brought it up to the CLO [chief legal officer], and they\u2019re both telling us it\u2019s all good. And the CPO is especially telling us like, ‘F— off. It\u2019s all good. Stop. Like, shut up,'” Farley says in the video.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a Monday statement to The Christian Post, an Aylo spokesperson denied the authenticity of the video, claiming that its release was an effort \u201cto use disingenuous tactics to create a damaging characterization devoid of any fact or truth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe video, which was filmed surreptitiously and never fact checked, exclusively features an employee with no involvement in the company\u2019s compliance measures, content moderation practices, and development and execution of companywide policies,\u201d the spokesperson stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Aylo representative added that the employee seen in the video is not an executive, nor is he part of the company\u2019s senior management team, meaning that he is not privy to the information that he claimed to know in the video.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe employee in the video erroneously points to the existence of a supposed \u2018loophole\u2019 in the company\u2019s moderation practices,\u201d the spokesperson continued. \u201cWhat is being referenced is that Aylo platforms let their content creators and performers choose whether to show or to hide their face in their content.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are proud to be at the forefront of content moderation on the internet and will continue to work to remain in this position,\u201d the spokesperson claimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lily Moric, communications and campaigns specialist with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), highlighted issues with Pornhub\u2019s verification process, which involves requiring the video uploader to provide an ID.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s problematic because, as the investigation showed, the ID shows a person\u2019s face, but online pornographic content often doesn\u2019t show a person\u2019s face,\u201d she told CP in an interview. \u201cSo how are you going to identify that this is the person in the video when the pornographic video doesn\u2019t even show the face that\u2019s on the ID?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The anti-sexual exploitation advocate also contended that it\u2019s problematic that Pornhub only verifies the identity of the video\u2019s uploader and not all of the individuals that appeared in the pornographic video.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you know the uploader of the video isn\u2019t actually a sex trafficker?\u201d she asked. \u201cWe need to verify the identity of the woman or girl who might be in the video with him.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Moric, age and consent verification of the individuals featured in the content uploaded to PornHub is the No. 1 safety measure that NCOSE would like to see implemented. Moric explained that NCOSE advocates for these types of measures through grassroots advocacy, which includes petitioning and urging people to contact their legislators or corporations with ties to Pornhub.\u00a0<\/p>\n She cited Visa and Mastercard as an example, two major credit card companies that\u00a0announced<\/a> in December 2020 they were temporarily preventing their cards from being used on Pornhub. The decision came after a New York Times<\/a>\u00a0expos\u00e9 released that same month alleged the site profits from abusive material such as “child rapes” and other horrific “racist and misogynist content.”<\/p>\n \u201cSo any way that we can try to dismantle Pornhub’s infrastructure by cutting away their distribution partners or their advertising partners, or their payment processors to destabilize their business model would be an approach we sometimes take with the corporations in addition to calling for stronger legislation to hold them accountable,\u201d Moric said.\u00a0<\/p>\n As NCOSE noted in a\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0last week, internal emails uncovered via a\u00a0class action lawsuit<\/a> against MindGeek show Pornhub\u2019s CEO and his executive team discussing the company\u2019s policy regarding videos depicting abuse. According to the emails, the official policy is to only remove videos that have been flagged 15 times.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo add insult to injury, the above emails also reveal that Pornhub had a backlog of 706,425 videos that had been reported between one and fifteen times,\u201d NCOSE stated. \u201cThat\u2019s up to 706,425 cases of possible rape or child sexual abuse which Pornhub deliberately chose not to review.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Several lawsuits against MindGeek have accused the company of knowingly monetizing\u00a0child pornography<\/a>\u00a0and allowing videos to remain on the site that depict\u00a0sexual abuse<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n MindGeek has responded to such allegations by claiming that it has \u201czero tolerance\u201d for illegal content on its platforms, boasting that it has \u201cinstituted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history.\u201d<\/p>\n Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at:\u00a0samantha.kamman@christianpost.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter:\u00a0@Samantha_Kamman<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST<\/strong> newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nFree<\/span> Religious Freedom Updates<\/h2>\n