COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has joined his counterparts in demanding answers from Pornhub’s parent company, claiming that there is a potential loophole that could let predators share videos of child sex abuse on the website.
In a letter to Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company based in Montreal, Yost and 25 other attorneys general said they question Pornhub’s practices for vetting user-uploaded content to ensure participants are consenting adults, rather than victims of child sex abuse and other crimes.
“Without airtight safeguards, a website like this can become a haven for child molesters, rapists and other abusers,” Yost said. “It appears the people in charge left the gate unlocked for predators, and the company needs to explain itself.
Yost’s office said the inquiry was prompted by an undercover journalist’s recorded conversations with Mike Farley, an Aylo technical product manager.
Farley reportedly said that content creators must submit a photo ID for verification when opening a Pornhub account, but they are not required to show their faces in materials uploaded to the website.
When asked if human trafficking and potential suspects of sexual assault exploit the company’s policy to share videos of their victims, Farley reportedly said “Of course.”
“You (Pornhub) shouldn’t have content up [if] you can’t identify the person,” he said, according to Yost’s office.
In their letter, Yost and the attorneys general seek a response from Aylo regarding the claims and an explanation of the company’s plan to fix the alleged loophole, so no children or other victims are abused for profit on its platforms.
The attorneys general are also asking what steps the company is taking to prevent the spread of child sex abuse materials generated by artificial intelligence.
In August, the company changed its name to Aylo from Mindgeek amid lawsuits alleging that it profits from child pornography and videos of nonconsensual sex.
According to Yost’s office, Visa and Mastercard shut off payment processing last year for advertising on Pornhub due to similar concerns. Additionally, YouTube and Instagram suspended Pornhub’s accounts on social media sites for policy violations.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The original story mentioned that there was a lawsuit filed against Aylo regarding the allegations. The story has been corrected to say that only a letter was filed and there is no lawsuit.
