From the Washington Post June 22, 2022
Two top executives at MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, have resigned amid allegations that the site does not immediately or sufficiently remove content involving nonconsensual and underage sex.
MindGeek confirmed the departures of CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo in a statement Tuesday.
“Antoon and Tassillo leave MindGeek’s day-to-day operations after more than a decade in leadership positions with the company,” the company told The Washington Post. “MindGeek’s executive leadership team will run day-to-day operations on an interim basis, with a search underway for replacements.”
News of the departures come about a week after a New Yorker article detailed people’s attempts to get Porhhub to remove sexually explicit content that involved underage and nonconsensual participants. Announcement of the departures is not related to the piece, MindGeek told The Post.
The company said in a statement that it had enacted the most extensive safeguards “in the history of the internet” and that data proves its policies have been effective. The statement cited a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children report showing that Pornhub had few instances of child sexual abuse and that it removed cases of such material “in the shortest amount of time after being notified among all major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more.”
“The New Yorker had the opportunity to seriously evaluate what works in fighting illegal material on the internet by looking at the facts, comparing the policies of platforms, and studying the results,” MindGeek’s statement said. “Instead, they chose to ignore the fact that MindGeek has more comprehensive and effective policies than any other major platform on the internet, and decided to peddle the same gross mischaracterizations that anti-porn extremists have spewed for decades.”
Alana Evans, president of the Adult Performance Artists Guild, a union for adult performers, said entertainers are stunned by the news of the departures because such resignations typically come as a result of bad press or a scandal.
“The timing is kind of out of the blue,” Evans told The Post, but added that she didn’t think the resignations were tied to the New Yorker piece. MindGeek has fought lawsuits and negative articles in the past, she said.
In December 2020, Mastercard, Visa and Discover blocked customers from using their credit cards on Pornhub’s website after the New York Times published an opinion piece accusing Pornhub of being rife with nonconsensual and child abuse material.
The New Yorker piece, which Evans called “a hit job,” quotes multiple organizations, such as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and Exodus Cry, that have been at the forefront of pushing legislation and corporate decisions that make it hard for sex workers to earn a living.
Evans said she is stunned by the exits of the top executives, but noted that their resignations probably will not affect the day-to-day life of performers because people in those positions are already so far removed from the routine of the average performer.
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