CV News Feed // An Alabama woman won a major victory in her lawsuit against Pornhub after a judge certified a childhood sex trafficking victim and child sexual abuse material as the class representative in her lawsuit.
On December 19 Judge Scott Coogler of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama’s ruling provided the woman, who is identified as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit, with a major victory in her case against Pornhub, according to the Daily Signal.
The woman filed the lawsuit in September, alleging that Pornhub and its parent company, MindGeek, created a business model that allows the two companies to profit from sex trafficking that involves thousands of children.
In the lawsuit, the woman says that as a child, she was trafficked, and videos in which she was abused appeared on the Pornhub website. She alleges that Pornhub actively distributes videos that include children on its website and uses various keywords, such as “tiny teen,” “teenage” or “young,” to hide child pornography.
She said that videos showing her as a minor and being abused continued to be available on the site for over two years, even after requests were submitted for their removal.
The December 19 order states:
For instance, plaintiff’s abuser—who has since been convicted of displaying obscene material depicting a minor and sexual abuse—filmed her engaging in sexual acts while she was still a minor and uploaded the videos to Pornhub. The videos, one of which contained the diminutive term ‘Lil’ in the title, were publicly available for over two years, despite several take-down requests, until law enforcement intervened.
This victory allows the lawsuit to proceed as a class-action lawsuit, meaning that more victims will be able to receive compensation and be represented if the group wins.
“Jane Doe’s courage in representing the class ‘helps more vulnerable [child] victims come forward with their claims and potentially receive relief than might otherwise come forward individually,’” said Josh Hayes, a lawyer representing the woman.
Hayes expressed gratitude that the court recognized the case as a class-action lawsuit, and that he hopes Pornhub will be held accountable for its actions.
“We’re gratified that the court has certified this class of victim-survivors and look forward to holding Pornhub and its related companies accountable for their actions,” Hayes says. “This is a team effort, and we’re grateful to all of the firms that are partnering with us to represent Jane Doe and the other survivors.”
In the past five years, Pornhub and its parent company have faced increasing backlash and multiple lawsuits over the platform’s continued support of child pornography.
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a New York Times opinion piece detailing how the website supported and monetized child pornography and abuse. Following the piece, multiple major credit card companies, such as Visa, announced that they would be blocking payments to Pornhub.
