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How Pornhub Became The Internet's Biggest Crime Scene — Laila Mickelwait (Modern Wisdom #956)

Jun 2025 🌐 Modern Wisdom (host Chris Williamson)

Anti-trafficking campaigner Laila Mickelwait tells host Chris Williamson that Pornhub's open-upload model, for years, allowed videos to be posted with no verification that everyone shown had consented or was an adult, and that this design choice is what she holds responsible for the platform repeatedly hosting child sexual abuse material and non-consensual footage alongside legal content. She describes the campaign she led, including a public petition and pressure on payment processors, which she credits with the platform removing the large majority of its previously uploaded videos and dropping credit-card support, and with victims subsequently filing dozens of civil lawsuits. TechKids Foundation includes this episode as a documented example of platform-accountability advocacy directly relevant to online child exploitation, distinct from routine news coverage of the same campaign.

91% of previously hosted videos removed after the campaign, per Mickelwait's account

Mickelwait says this is the share of previously uploaded content Pornhub took down following the #TraffickingHub campaign and related payment-processor pressure in 2020.

Nearly 300 plaintiffs across 27 lawsuits, per Mickelwait's account

Cited in the episode as the scale of civil litigation Mickelwait says has since been filed against the platform and its former parent company over previously hosted content.

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CITATION

Williamson, Chris, host. "How Pornhub Became The Internet's Biggest Crime Scene – Laila Mickelwait." Modern Wisdom, episode 956, June 19, 2025.

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