A Class-Action Lawsuit Has Been Filed Against Pornhub’s Montreal-Based Parent Company
Like a findom sub, Pornhub might soon be strapped for cash.
MindGeek, its Montreal-based parent company, has been targeted with a $500 million class-action lawsuit over claims it failed to prevent unlawful content from being posted to the web.
The suit was filed on Thursday by Toronto-based personal injury law firm Diamond and Diamond on behalf of representative plaintiff Christine Wing, an Ontario resident who is alleging three videos of her were non-consensually featured on the porn site in May 2020.
"What does one have when you’ve lost your privacy in the worst way?" stated Wing in a news release. "This is a violation of the most egregious kind."
The class action seeks $500 million
The lawsuit is seeking up to $500 million, "excluding additional punitive or aggravated damages," states the release.
Darryl Singer, head of commercial and civil litigation at Diamond and Diamond, told MTL Blog that dozens of other citizens have also joined the class action.
Wing may be one of thousands of Canadians to have been exploited in this way, he said, and others with similar stories are being invited to come forward.
"You want to watch pornography that’s your business, go right ahead," said Singer. "All we're saying is you have to protect people. You can't have minors. You can't have people who didn't consent to have their pornography there. It's that simple."
Pornhub has been accused of unruly practices in the past
This is not the first time Pornhub has come under fire for allegedly posting illegal content.
As noted in the release, a $600-million class-action lawsuit was filed against MindGeek last year on behalf of a plaintiff known as Jane Doe, alleging the site profited from videos depicting child sexual exploitation and non-consensual sexual content.
"Doe claimed her sexual abuse as a child was posted to the site and that she was only alerted when she received a social media message from a high school friend," the release says.
New safeguards were 'too little, too late'
In December 2020, Pornhub introduced new safeguards and policies so that unverified pornography could be yanked off the site but Singer said: "it was too little, too late."
"There are thousands and thousands of people that have been victimized and violated as a result," Singer added.
"They definitely had a system in place," he continued. "Our position is they weren't using the system. In other words, they paid lip service to it… They had the security system, but they left the door unlocked and didn't set the alarm."
MTL Blog has reached out to Pornhub and MindGeek for a comment on these allegations. This article will be updated when we hear back.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
