In early March, Canada’s privacy commissioner filed a court application seeking a court order to require Pornhub’s parent company Aylo to comply with Canadian privacy law.Â
The application follows earlier findings by the privacy commissioner that Aylo is failing to obtain meaningful consent from the individuals depicted in its sites’ pornography. Aylo’s crown jewel, Pornhub, is the world’s most visited porn site, receiving more than five billion visits each month.
Solomon Friedman, a partner at Ethical Capital Partners, the private equity firm that owns Aylo, argued in a recent National Post interview that pornography is profoundly human, is becoming softer and does not negatively impact its many viewers.Â
“Pornography is not a depiction that society then models itself after … Pornography … is more like a mirror. Whatever is reflected into it is reflected back,” Friedman said.
Let’s hope that’s not true. Contrary to Friedman’s claims, the research is clear that pornography does have numerous negative effects, which governments should require porn companies to mitigate.
A 2020 study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior journal found that 45 per cent of Pornhub’s videos featured physical violence. An astonishing 97 per cent of its videos showed women as targets of aggression.
A 2021 study by researchers at the University of Cambridge and Reward Foundation educational charity found that, “increasing numbers of men are being found guilty of violence against women where pornography consumption was implicated. Literature linking pornography use to sexual offending, sexual aggression and abuse is now strong.”Â
Nearly a quarter of adult American women report feeling fear during intimacy due to porn-inspired choking.
Research also indicates negative effects on children.
Consumption of pornography during childhood has been linked to children perpetrating sexual abuse on other children. It is also used to groom children to go along with sexual abuse.
And data from the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline show pornography is among the top three known reasons for human trafficking.
In his interview, Friedman touted the safety mechanisms Aylo has established on Pornhub and its other sites to ensure its content is legal.
But these measures are not enough.
Horrific stories have emerged of people discovering content of themselves on the site that had been posted without their consent. Once illegal content is uploaded, it is almost impossible to have it removed from the internet.Â
Pornhub also has no meaningful measures to prevent children from accessing its site. Worse, it has seemingly opposed efforts to introduce such measures.
After multiple U.S. states introduced age-verification laws to prevent children from viewing pornography, Pornhub chose to cut off access to the site, stating their disapproval with the mandated method for verifying web users’ age.
Governments cannot expect porn sites to adequately address the risks associated with their sites themselves. It must take action.
What could this look like?
In recent years, there have been two private member’s bills tabled in Parliament that provide a good starting point.
Bill S-210 would have required porn companies to verify the age of viewers of pornography. Despite widespread support among opposition parties, the law did not advance to a final vote because Parliament was prorogued.
Bill C-270 would have required pornography companies to explicitly verify the age and consent of those depicted in pornography prior to their content being uploaded. This bill had all-party support at second reading in the House of Commons, but was also not passed due to prorogation.
When the next government is elected, it should act quickly to reintroduce and pass such legislation.
As home to the world’s largest porn producer, Canada is a major contributor to the worldwide porn market. Given the clear negative impacts of pornography, the least Canada could do is reduce easy access by children and ensure content is only shared with explicit consent.
