OTTAWA – Canada’s privacy watchdog yesterday said it is investigating Pornhub over possible breaches involving the posting of sexually explicit videos online without the consent of people featured in them.
Commissioner Daniel Therrien revealed his probe of the world’s largest porn site and its Montreal-based parent MindGeek at a parliamentary committee hearing.
His office, however, declined to provide details to AFP.
The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics has heard testimony from several women claiming that Pornhub ignored their requests to have videos removed from the site.
Last December, The New York Times published an article in which Pornhub is once again accused of posting illegal content online, including child pornography and rape videos.
The site, which claims to get 130 million visitors per day, has refuted the allegations and announced a series of measures to combat illegal content on its platform: only “verified” users can now post content, and downloading videos is restricted to paid users.
In February, Canadian lawmakers grilled MindGeek executives about alleged abuses on their platform, while MasterCard and Visa suspended payments on the site following a public outcry.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, meanwhile, promised to introduce legislation this year that will force online platforms to remove all illegal content. – AFP, May 11, 2021
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