From Fortune Magazine:



The owner of Pornhub has admitted to profiting from sex trafficking and has made a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve the charge. The Montreal based company, which received money from a now-defunct adult film production company GirlsDoPorn, will pay more than $1.8 million to the U.S. government as well as make separate payments to the individual women harmed by the trafficking. A monitor will be appointed for three years, after which the charges will be dismissed. Prosecutors allege that Aylo Holdings received money from GirlsDoPorn’s sex trafficking operations and did not act swiftly enough to remove nonconsensual videos, which led to the company knowingly enriching itself by turning a blind eye to victims who told the company they had been deceived and coerced into the videos. Aylo operates free and paid adult websites where content providers can post and distribute adult videos and generates revenue through licensing agreements, advertisements, and subscriptions. Aylo stated that it “deeply regrets” hosting content from GirlsDoPorn and that GirlsDoPorn had provided written consent forms purportedly signed by women in their videos, but had been unaware they were obtained through fraud and coercion. Thursday’s agreement comes after the European Union announced that Pornhub and two other major porn sites would be required to verify the ages of their users, expanding the reach of the Digital Services Act designed to keep people safe on the internet.



Original: Pornhub says it ‘deeply regrets’ profiting from sex trafficking and will pay at least $1.8 million to resolve federal charges