The world’s largest porn platform Pornhub publishes videos of rape, torture and child abuse. A huge online campaign calls for the end of the platform.

The international campaign Traffickinghub attracts a lot of media attention. Almost one million and 700,000 people from over 192 countries have signed a petition to demand the closure of the Pornhub platform. Several politicians have already adopted the petition’s demands and addressed their governments:

In Canada a multi-party group of members of parliament sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, demanding an investigation of Pornhub and its parent company MindGeek. In a letter to attorney general William Barr, US Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska also demanded an investigation of both companies. Furthermore actor Terry Crews, who has criticized pornography several times before, has endorsed the campaign publicly.

Pornhub contains videos of rape and child abuse

The reason for these actions are numerous videos of rape and torture on Pornhub. In some cases, the victims were children who have been missing for months. However, the most recent videos are not isolated cases. Several investigations found that in 2019 alone, up to 118 videos showing sexual abuse were uploaded on the platform. Some of the identified videos had up to 350,000 hits and had been on the platform for more than three years.

Yet there are no real security measures, the campaigners say: “Pornhub has no reliable system in place to verify that those in the videos it hosts are not trafficked children being raped on film in order to line the pockets of its executives.” Nevertheless, Pornhub rejects the accusations and claims to check all videos and delete illegal content.

A broad alliance against pornography and human trafficking

According to the petition’s initiator Laila Mickelwait, Traffickinghub is the largest campaign against pornography and human trafficking worldwide so far. In particular it is remarkable that over 300 different organisations have already joined the campaign. Most of them fight against pornography, human trafficking, child abuse, prostitution, domestic violence, non-age-appropriate sex education etc.

In addition, there is a creative way to get involved. Traffickinghub awards the best art works that support the campaign. “Compelling visual imagery is an integral part of telling stories and helping people understand the message. This results in mindset changes which lead to cultural shifts that demand new laws and regulations, as together we fight for a more just world,” the initiators explain the contest called #ARTXFREEDOM.

A tidal wave against pornography

Mickelwait believes in the success of Traffickinghub: “Of course we can shut down Pornhub, because we are strong when we stand up against this giant together. (…) This effort to shut down Pornhub and hold its executives accountable is a global movement now, and the tidal wave that is surging will soon gain enough force to accomplish the goal.”

She works for the Christian NGO Exodus Cry, which has been working against human trafficking and sexual exploitation worldwide since 2008. The NGO is providing education, helping victims and advising politicians. In 2011, Exodus Cry published “Nefarious: Merchant of Souls”, a documentary on the connection between human trafficking and prostitution. Four years later they produced another documentary, called “Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution”, on today’s young adult hookup culture.