Last week, Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined 23 other states in a letter to Pornhub’s parent company with concerns over content featuring underaged children.
As recently reported, an employee for the company was captured on video by an undercover journalist discussing Pornhub’s moderation practices, where he admitted a “loophole.” When uploading content to the site, users are required to submit a photo ID but are not required to show their face in the uploaded material. The employee admitted there is no way to confirm the person uploading the photo ID is the same person in the content. He replied, “Of course,” when asked if rapists and human traffickers use this loophole to upload content of their victims to make money.
The letter states:
As you are aware, various Federal and state laws forbid the creation and distribution of CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material.) We are concerned that Aylo and its subsidiary Pornhub, and possibly other subsidiaries, may be proliferating the production and dissemination of CSAM through the ‘loophole’ identified by your employee. Please provide us with an explanation of this ‘loophole;’ whether Aylo and its subsidiaries do, in fact, permit content creators and performers to obscure their faces in uploaded content; and, if so, whether Aylo is taking measures to change this policy to ensure that no children or other victims are being abused for profit on any of its platforms.
Utah joined the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming on the South Carolina-led letter.
