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Pornhub’s Parent Company Is Losing Executives as Controversy Swirls

Pornhub’s Parent Company Is Losing Executives as Controversy Swirls

MindGeek, the company that owns Pornhub, saw two top executives depart following a new swirl of allegations about the site’s slow response time to removing content involving nonconsensual sexual content and content that involves minors. CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo’s twin resignations came as a surprise to the company, according to reporting from the Washington Post.

“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 Post. “MindGeek’s executive leadership team will run day-to-day operations on an interim basis, with a search underway for replacements.”

MindGeek denied that Antoon and Tassillo’s departures were related to the latest reporting from the New Yorker, in which people expressed their frustrations with getting Pornhub to remove unwanted and in many cases illegal content. Pornhub defended itself, saying it had implemented an array of new safety and security features, along with new policies that have shortened its response time. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said Pornhub removed such content faster than Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, according to their latest report.

“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 told the Post in a statement. “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.”

But accusations that Pornhub isn’t doing enough to keep underage and nonconsensual sexual content off its site have dogged the company for years. After a New York Times op-ed interviewed multiple women about their frustrations with getting Pornhub to respond to their pleas to remove content they were featured in (content which, in some cases, they had no idea had been filmed or uploaded), Mastercard, Visa and Discover blocked their cards from being used on Pornhub.

MindGeek will install interim executives for the time being while it seeks out new leadership. The Post spoke with Alana Evans, president of a union for adult performers, who said she thinks Pornhub will evolve toward more creator-based adult content, chasing the success of sites like OnlyFans.

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