The op-ed led Mastercard and Visa to stop processing payments on Pornhub, and the company also purged videos from unverified accounts. Most recently, a New York Times (Opens in a new tab) story added more accusations of these websites hosting unethical videos linked to child pornography, revenge porn, rape, and other forms of abuse. MindGeek spends nearly $2 million to combat piracy, according to TechCrunch (Opens in a new tab), 'though that would amount to less than half a percent of the company’s 2015 revenue (Opens in a new tab).' Blake White, Pornhub's vice president, added in an emailed statement that the site removes copies of videos that have been fingerprinted (Opens in a new tab) - a free service that acts as a digital watermark - and works to remove pirated content featuring its partners from other tube sites.Īccusations of monopoly and piracy aside, MindGeek, Pornhub, and Xvideos are, to varying degrees, linked to extremely troubling allegations. (Opens in a new tab)įree porn sites (aka 'tube' sites) often rely on profiting off of widespread piracy (Opens in a new tab), making it near impossible for performers to earn a living. Just look at the hullabaloo on Capitol Hill over Big Tech. Monopolies are, of course, bad for consumers, workers, and antithetical to healthy competition. 'We don’t dispute that MindGeek properties drive considerable traffic, but to say it drives a disproportionate volume of traffic is not accurate,' Willis said over email in March.

How millennials are saving the porn industry Its biggest competitor, WGCZ, keeps a low-profile (Opens in a new tab) and camouflages (Opens in a new tab) its network of brands (contact information for WGCZ wasn't immediately available). Still, MindGeek has a vast amount of power and influence (Opens in a new tab) over porn industry actors and producers. MindGeek disputes that characterization, with representative Michael Willis pointing to viewership data (Opens in a new tab) that shows its sites aren't alone among the most popular porn sites (it owns three in the top 10 and seven in the top 100). In addition to Pornhub, it owns RedTube, YouPorn, Xtube, Brazzers, Reality Kings, and many more. But don't worry, there are porn and erotica alternatives that can upgrade your self-love sessions.įor years now, MindGeek has been accused of monopolistic dominance in the porn industry. As does Xvideos, the most-viewed porn site, which is owned by WGCZ.

If you're wondering why you've become so bored by the widely accessible mainstream porn that just seems to keep doing more of the same, Pornhub and its parent company MindGeek deserves part of the blame. But aren't you tired of (or maybe even troubled by) just doing the same old thing to get off online over and over again? Most of us are watching porn, whether or not we admit it.

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