Attorney General Alan Wilson leads 26 states in asking Pornhub to explain loophole that jeopardizes children

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson led 25 other states in a letter to Pornhub’s parent company with concerns over content featuring 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 his or her face in the material uploaded. 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.

“When I read the reports that Pornhub knew it had children or victims of human trafficking on its site, I was immediately concerned,” said Attorney General Alan Wilson. “If you know your platform and practices are harming children, it’s your responsibility to fix it. I prosecuted child sex crimes when I was a young prosecutor, but now as a father of two teenagers, protecting children and our most vulnerable has become even more of a priority of mine.”

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.”

South Carolina’s letter was joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Read the full letter here.