Instagram boots Pornhub off platform as trafficking claims against XXX website worsen

Instagram has axed Pornhub’s account from its social media platform as accusations against the erotic website continue. 

The XXX website’s profile, which boasted a whopping 13.1 million followers, was incredibly active and boasted more than 6,200 posts. 

But now it’s all gone, with Meta removing the profile after significant lobbying to have it suspended from the platform.

The move comes one month removed from Visa and Mastercard, cutting off payment privileges to TrafficJunky, which is the advertising arm of Pornhub’s parent company MindGeek.

Instagram: “We removed Pornhub’s account…”

Instagram: “We removed Pornhub’s account…”

Have a good weekend. pic.twitter.com/o9rIDlGyBa

— Laila Mickelwait (@LailaMickelwait) September 3, 2022

It is part of a more prominent issue that involved MindGeek and Pornhub being sued for allegedly distributing and monetising child pornography, according to Variety. 

Visa had originally requested to be removed from the case; however, Judge Cormac Carney wrote that MindGeek has ‘knowingly provided the tool used to complete crime’.

Instagram was the next corporate company to be rallied to enact change against Pornhub.

Their Instagram account had shared non-pornographic videos and images; however, they promoted pornography with videos titled ‘Next Career Goal’ that encouraged people to become porn performers.

Dawn Hawkins, who is the CEO of the National Center of Sexual Exploitation, one of the main advocates for taking down Pornhub, praised Instagram.

He said, via Variety: “Instagram is courageously choosing to stop partnering with Pornhub, and it is time for all corporate entities to follow its example.”

Meanwhile, Laila Mickelwait, CEO of the nonprofit Justice Defense Fund, also celebrated the news and called for further actions from mainstream corporations.

In a statement to New York Daily News, she said: “Instagram has made the right decision by cutting ties with Pornhub, and now joins Visa, Mastercard, Discover, PayPal, Grant Thornton, Heinz, Unilever, Roku, and many other companies in rejecting to do business with Pornhub, a site infamous for monetizing the sex trafficking and criminal sexual abuse of countless victims including children.”

Adding: “It is worth remembering that it’s illegal in the United States according to the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act to knowingly benefit from a sex trafficking venture.

“Now, it’s finally time for Google search, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Reflected Networks to follow suit.”

The plaintiff in the case against MindGeek and Visa is Serena Fleites, who says she was pressured into making a sexually explicit video when she was 13 by her then-boyfriend.

She alleges that he uploaded the video to the pornography platform without her knowledge or consent, with Pornhub profiting off the video. 

Fleites is one of more than two dozen individuals who have sued MindGeek in the last year for child pornography, sexual assault videos, and content uploaded without consent.