2023-04-25 10:48:33
When Christophe’s investigation came to light in late 2020, titled “Children of Pornhub: Why Canada Allows This Company to Profit from Exploitation and Abuse Videos?”, it caught everyone’s attention. By relying on real facts and a number of victims who found video clips of their worst sexual experiences available on the porn site, the investigation’s publication, and thus its wide reach, jeopardized the lucrative business model of one of the world’s most visited sites. Christophe didn’t stop at exposing the problem, but asked the site’s administration for three things: increase content moderation, ban video downloads, and allow only verified users to post videos.
The direct consequences of publishing the investigation were the suspension of payment services by Visa and MasterCard on the site, and Pornhub quickly deleted more than 9 million videos overnight. Reducing the table of content offered on the platform reduces revenues, and since the site’s strongest source of income comes from ads (it collects nearly three billion dollars from ads), the main victims of this measure were sex workers, professionals in major porn companies and studios. Or freelancers who run their own businesses through the platform.
The film appears in a number of workers in the porn industry, often defending the existence of “Pornhub” and similar platforms that gave them the opportunity to establish their own business away from the control of studios or unsecured work environments, in addition to “empowerment” as one of the actresses said that thanks to downloading Through her clips on the site, she was able to buy her own home. The film gives those with plenty of time to express their concerns and respond to opponents of porn sites, but in the presence of serious accusations such as trafficking, child sexual abuse and rape, the central dilemma of the film remains related to Pornhub itself and the way it is run.
The film dates back to the beginnings of the site’s emergence in 2007, when three students at the Canadian “Concordia” University created the “BornHub” platform, motivated by youthful absurdity and a craving for watching naked women. In 2010, they sold the site to Fabian Thielmann, who turned it into one of the most viewed sites in the world and built an economic empire with 32 subsidiaries. Currently, the site attracts 3.5 billion visits per month, more than “Netflix”, “Yahoo” or “Amazon”. He had a billboard in Times Square and most of his revenue came from . And like other giant Internet sites and companies, it works primarily by collecting its users’ data and preferences, marketing its materials, and improving search engine performance to make its shares appear first.
However, on the way to reaching the top of the “adult content” business and achieving annual profits of hundreds of millions of dollars, “Born Hub” accumulated over time a number of criticisms and accusations once morest it regarding immoral, and sometimes criminal, practices. From tax evasion to publishing videos of child rape.
In the film, Hellinger examines how the world’s largest porn platform changed the way adult content is created and distributed, and how the company has thrived despite criticism, quickly traversing through more than a decade exploring sensitive topics such as cybersecurity, consent, and child pornography through interviews with porn industry practitioners. It also includes interviews with porn actresses like Cherie DeVille, Siri Dahl, and Gwen Adora, who share their perspectives on how the criticism stemming from Christophe’s investigation has affected the industry and those who depend on it for their livelihoods.
On the other hand, the film examines the anti-sex trafficking campaigns promoted by conservative Christian groups seeking to end the porn industry, while also exploring criticism and debates emanating from those who defend their freedom in this field, which represents a turning point in an industry that is considered oft too much. of contempt and disdain. Hellinger allows different parties to speak: sex workers, advocates for the porn industry, former Pornhub employees, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, representatives of a Christian activist group, with the cleverly chosen name “National Center Against Sexual Exploitation” possibly obscuring a fact Their opposition to the entire porn industry.
Between this and that, many questions arise, some of which go beyond the subject of the film, and others produced by the narration of the film itself: Is Mind Geek, the Canadian parent company of Pornhub, a criminal organization similar to the New York mafia gangs, and therefore it must be dealt with harshly? Or is the porn site, with the slogan “All you need is just a hand,” an example of how pornography drives technological progress and facilitates the autonomy of sex workers? Can the matter be summarized here in a commercial institution that finds itself facing an attack that transcends it to everything it represents, as it is exposed to a “war on pornography” led by extremist religious groups? And is banning pornography, says a lawyer working in the field, an early warning bell for concerns regarding freedom of expression?
Whatever it is, the film’s major feature and main link is that from its inception it operates according to a specific perspective: sex work is a business like any other, and consent is an essential component of the porn industry. Taking this approach, he provides a useful overview of the ethical and moral challenges facing the porn industry today, as well as the social debate regarding anonymity on the Internet and how it facilitates disgraceful and criminal behaviour, especially on platforms where undocumented users can post any sexual content.
Meanwhile, workers in the field of pornography, especially independent ones, find themselves vulnerable to being crushed between the anvil of what the major porn companies do, seeking to reap the largest possible amount of revenue, and do not want to spend much effort to combat harmful and illegal content on their platforms, and between the hammer of moralists. Conservatives who, in turn, are taking this as an opportunity to declare war on pornography as a whole.
No one in the film talks regarding banning porn, but rather starts talking from a point that goes beyond acknowledging its existence and legitimacy, in order to find a way to make it more humane and sustainable for some. In this regard, it may be useful to recall a previous interview published by Al-Modon with director Ninja Theiberg on a similar topic, in which she indicated that porn will never disappear, and it may be more useful to try to improve it.
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