Revenge porn is a real problem, especially in the age of the internet. But now, one of the go-to destinations for internet smut is taking action against revenge porn, by making it easier for victims to get the videos and photos taken down. While this big change by PornHub certainly won’t prevent all cases of revenge porn, it’s definitely a strong symbolic move.
Revenge porn can take a few forms, but the most traditional are videos or pictures in the possession of an individual’s former partner that are posted online or shared in an attempt to get “revenge” for some perceived wrongdoing, or even just embarrass the individual. The victims are usually, but certainly not always, female.
While PornHub has always had policies in place to get rid of any revenge porn that was posted or taken without an individual’s knowledge, the company just announced that that process will be streamlined with the introduction of a new form that will allow users to report abuses right away. Previously, the appeals process was done via email, but PornHub wants to cut through that “red tape” and also deter the posting of non-consensual content.
Corey Price, the PornHub Vice President said in a press release:
With nearly 60 million visitors to Pornhub daily, it’s imperative that we remain ahead of this perpetuating victimization of innocent individuals and continue to combat this illicit behavior. We will persist in enacting measures that we believe will strongly reinforce Pornhub’s stance against revenge porn. We are fully committed to the removal of this type of content from our site, in the pursuit of instilling a sense of safety and community that keeps our users’ minds at ease.
This certainly won’t lead to a complete removal of all revenge porn from PornHub’s site, much less the internet as a whole. Given the ease with which new videos can be uploaded, as well as the fact that the system to take it down relies on user participation, revenge porn will probably still make its appearances. There are also more things the company could be doing–according to Mary Anne Franks, who teaches law at the University of Miami and works as the Vice President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative–sites should be more proactive about making sure that illegal content doesn’t become publicly available in the first place. According to the Verge:
The deterrents she suggests seem easy to implement: a clearly displayed reminder that revenge porn is illegal in most US states, or a simple checkbox for users to verify that the materials they upload are being distributed with the full consent of all parties.
So it’s not perfect. But as a company that saw 18.5 billion visits in 2014 alone, PornHub is making a rather visible statement that revenge porn is wrong, and should not be tolerated.