Pornhub parent company, Aylo Holdings, admitted Thursday to profiting from sex trafficking, agreeing to pay more than $1.8 million to the U.S. government as well as separate payments to the trafficked victims, according to authorities.
The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace confirmed in a press release that the website’s parent company entered a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) to resolve the charges of “engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds.” (RELATED: New Anti-Porn Laws Try To Protect Kids From Adult Content. But Will They Make The Problem Worse?)
In addition to Ayo Holdings DPA payments to both the U.S. government and trafficked victims, the parent company consented to be subject to an “independent Monitor” for three years, the press release stated.
Peace stated that the agreement not only “holds” Ayo Holdings “accountable for its role,” but that it will provide “oversight” on one of the “largest online content distributors.”
“This deferred prosecution agreement holds the parent company of Pornhub.com accountable for its role in hosting videos and accepting payments from criminal actors who coerced young women into engaging in sexual acts on videos that were posted without their consent,” Peace stated.
“This resolution will not only provide oversight over one of the largest online content distributors in the world and ensure the company’s lawful behavior, but it will also develop industry-wide standards for safety and compliance.” (RELATED: ‘Cut And Kill You B*tch’: Former Pageant Runner-Up Alleges PornHub Platformed Her Rape Videos)
The company that operates Pornhub and other adult websites acknowledged in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday that it had profited for years from pornographic content that depicted sex trafficking victims, according to federal prosecutors. https://t.co/xNModZWA5I
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 22, 2023
Authorities claim that the Pornhub site, known for operating free and paid adult content, had allowed “third parties to post and distribute” content onto their website, generating revenue through licensing agreements, advertisements, and subscriptions, according to the Associated Press.
However, in 2009 Ayo Holdings had hosted videos by GirlsDoPorn (GDP) operators who were eventually indicted with sex trafficking offenses for “deceiving and coercing young women to appear in sex videos which were then posted online without the women’s consent,” the statement read.
Authorities claimed that between 2017 and 2019, Ayo Holdings had received money allegedly knowing that it had derived from GDP Operators’ sex trafficking incidents. Additionally, between 2016 and 2019, authorities claimed that the parent company had received “several content removal requests” from victims of the videos uploaded by GDP operators.
While the context was later taken down by Ayo Holdings in October 2019, the company allegedly did not take any steps to identify and remove any other unofficial GDP content on its site and did not remove the channel from the platform until December 2020.
Prosecutors claimed that the parent company from 2017 to 2020 had received more than $100,000 from GDP operators, as well as an estimated $764,000 in payments from advertisers that had been connected to the company, AP News reported.
The company apologized in a video on its platform for hosting the content, stating that they “deeply regretted” their actions, according to AP News. However, the company had claimed that they were previously provided with written consent forms allegedly signed by the women that were in the GDP videos, stating they were unaware the consent had been obtained through fraud and coercion, the outlet reported.
Ayo Holdings additionally noted in a statement that the company did not violate any criminal laws, highlighting the agreement to dismiss charges after three years, AP News reported.
“Aylo is not pleading guilty to any crime, and the Government has agreed to dismiss its charge against the Company after 3 years, subject to the Company’s continued compliance with the Deferred Prosecution Agreement,” the parent company stated.