In the midst of a culture associated with online access to sexually explicit content, Mindgeek, the owner of Pornhub, was acquired on Thursday by private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners.
Pornhub is one of the largest adult entertainment websites on the internet and has come under scrutiny for previously hosting videos depicting child sexual abuse. After being published in the New York Times criticized platform, Visa and Mastercard suspended services from the site. Pornhub removed all unverified content and changed who was allowed to upload it to the site, but continued to struggle with its critics.
Despite the controversy surrounding Pornhub, Solomon Friedman, Ethical Capital Partners VP of Compliance, said that sharing how Mindgeek hosts and moderates content about “positive sexual expression between consensual adults” has a huge “social, financial and technological value.
Ethical Capital Partners will have “full control” of its new assets, Friedman told NBC News. V Press release in announcing the acquisition, the firm says it is seeking investment opportunities in industries requiring “principled ethical leadership.”
Friedman, a defense lawyer with almost 15 years of experience, said he has worked on lawsuits related to investigating, detecting and preventing child sexual abuse material.
Mindgeek has rarely spoken out in the years since the New York Times article, but its new owner boldly defends Pornhub’s right to exist.
According to Friedman, Mindgeek’s tools for checking bad content behavior were “a key reason why Ethical Capital Partners made the acquisition.” These include Mindgeek and Pornhub’s proven download program, a law enforcement portal, and a “toolkit” for checking content and tracking down stolen content.
“In fact, we see a huge untapped opportunity in taking these tools and sharing them with the world,” Friedman said.
On average in 2021, it took Pornhub a little less time to remove child sexual abuse messages (CSAM) than other platforms. according to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Pornhub responded to three NCMEC CSAM notifications in less than five hours on average, compared to an overall average across all websites of just over 24 hours.
Outside 30 million reports exploitation of children in the NCMEC in 2021, Pornhub submitted just over 9,000 reports, and Mindgeek’s other pornographic websites submitted less than 100 reports combined.
Friedman said Ethical Capital Partners plans to support and center sex workers and sexually explicit content creators in discussions about law and regulation, including what payment processors like Visa and Mastercard do and don’t allow sex workers and pornographic sites.
“We were protecting sex workers and we saw the stigma,” Friedman said. “There is stigma and shame, which means that discussions and debates take place in the absence of those who suffer the most from it.”
The acquisition announcement was greeted with optimism by adult stars and sex workers, said Mike Stabile, director of communications for the Free Speech Coalition, the adult industry trade association.
“At a time when the industry is under incredible legal and cultural attack, it is very helpful to have one of the largest companies speak out,” Stabile said.
Along with the announcement of the acquisition of Mindgeek, Ethical Capital Partners also announced the formation of an advisory board that includes Dr. Val Webber, MD, MD. Webber has experience in the webcam industry and is looking to improve the safety and health of performers and sex workers.
“My goal will always be that the safety of the performer is never sacrificed for some other vision of safety,” Webber said. “It’s things like sexual health and also mental health in constant surveillance and constant deprivation of livelihood.”