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How Pornhub Enables Doxing and Harassment
Pornhub is hosting videos that have been viewed hundreds of millions of times. The women in them say they thought the videos would never reach the internet, and that being doxed has ruined their lives.
by Samantha Cole and Emanuel Maiberg
Pornhub, one of the most visited websites in the world, is hosting and profiting from videos of women who say their lives were ruined as a direct result of the videos being shared on its platform.
The videos were produced by Girls Do Porn, a "Pornhub Content Partner" that is being sued by 22 women for fraud, emotional distress damages, and misappropriation of their likeness. According to John O'Brien, one of the attorneys representing the women, at least 100 women interviewed by his team have said Girls Do Porn promised them the videos would never be widely distributed. "Plaintiffs’ counsel has spoken to well over 100 of these victims spanning from filming in 2009 until 2018, and each has each relayed a story identical to Plaintiffs," the lawyers representing the women said in a trial brief submitted to the San Diego Superior Court.
According to O'Brien, videos of at least 11 of the women involved in the case are still hosted on Pornhub.
Motherboard's investigation found that many women in Girls Do Porn videos erased their own online presences from the internet following doxing and bullying online, and private or public humiliation in real life.
Girls Do Porn is one of Pornhub's most popular channels and continues to upload videos to Pornhub, with the most recent video uploaded two weeks ago. Pornhub also pitches Girls Do Porn content as a reason to buy its paid, premium membership that gives users access to videos that aren't available for free.
How the alleged Girls Do Porn fraud works
Most Girls Do Porn videos begin the same way: A young woman sits on a hotel bed. A man off-camera chats with her about it being her first time filmed having sex and whether she's nervous.
Then, she has sex on camera, with a man whose face you never see.
The women in these videos were flown from around the country to San Diego by Girls Do Porn, to shoot a video that they allegedly were promised no one back home would ever see. The company, many of the women say, told them that the videos would be sold as DVDs to "private collectors" in Australia and New Zealand.
"I personally was told they would be sold on DVDs to another country and even asked again when I was in the car on my way to the hotel," one woman not attached to the lawsuit, who appeared in Girls Do Porn videos, told Motherboard. Motherboard granted the woman anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the videos.
"They also tried to pay me to tell other girls that everything went well and there were no consequences, but obviously before the videos were released on GDP [Girls Do Porn] then all over Pornhub," she said.
Other plaintiffs' depositions and testimonies in the Girls Do Porn case, as well as two first-person accounts from women who talked about their experiences online, similarly allege Girls Do Porn lied about how it would distribute the videos.
"When everything was released I spiraled into a major depression, everyone made fun of me, my dad couldn’t even look at me, to this day some of my family wants nothing to do with me," the woman who talked to Motherboard said.
The women suing Girls Do Porn allege that they were manipulated into signing contracts—sometimes under the influence of alcohol served by Girls Do Porn, or while being bullied by men in the hotel rooms where the scenes would take place, with a cameraman and male porn performer standing at the ready.
"The girls are lied to leading up to and while they're signing these agreements," O'Brien told Motherboard.
In a court filing, O'Brien alleges:
Just prior to filming, and after doing the model's makeup and hair, they [Girls Do Porn] present purported release agreements to sign and read to the young victims, which are missing terms, including price and their website – and while distracting the models, rushing the models, misrepresenting the content and alleged effect of the documents, and often having served the models alcohol (many of whom are underage – in fact, one plaintiff filmed the day after her 18th birthday, Mr. Pratt [one of Girls Do Porn's owners] and Defendants having recruited her to fly across the country for a sex video when she was a minor. Defendants provided her with a birthday cake during the filming process to emphasize her having just reached the age of consent).
The agreements they signed with Girls Do Porn are multi-page contracts full of fine legal print, and make no mention of the videos being posted online or even the name "Girls Do Porn," according to O'Brien. "So they do sign something, but they never get a copy of it. The first time they ever see it is in this litigation," he said.
"We cannot comment on specific issues relating to the models whose cases are going to trial soon," Aaron Sadock, an attorney who is defending Girls Do Porn, told Motherboard. "Generally, many adult-video content providers promote their websites by posting films on sites like Pornhub. The standard contract that my client entered with all of its models permits it to promote full length videos like any other adult website. We are confident that the contract will be upheld after a full consideration of all the facts at trial."
There are around 400 women featured on Girls Do Porn, and only 22 are suing the company. But O'Brien said he and his team has spoken to more than 100 women in Girls Do Porn videos who've had similar experiences.
The woman who spoke to Motherboard anonymously had the same experience, but wasn't even aware of the case until we contacted her.
"No one has ever reached out to me about it, nor did I feel like there was any point in trying to sue someone if I stupidly signed a contract that said they could do whatever they want with the video," she said.
How Pornhub enables doxing
As the 22 women who are suing Girls Do Porn explain in written testimonies provided to the court, posting these videos online, and specifically to hugely popular websites like Pornhub, has had a disastrous impact on their lives.
GirlsDoPorn.com, as a standalone website separate from Pornhub, still exists and charges for subscriptions. But its videos are also available on Pornhub as free shorter clips or longer "Pornhub Premium" content.
Multiple women who claim they were lied to by Girls Do Porn have said that they did not realize the videos were being widely distributed until they were featured on Pornhub. The women in the videos don't reveal their real names on camera, but once the videos were published on Pornhub, the real names of some were doxed by Pornhub users.
Do you have a news tip regarding harassment, doxing or adult content? You can contact Samantha Cole securely on Signal at 646-926-1726, Twitter direct message, encrypted email at samleecole@protonmail.ch, or email sam@motherboard.tv
On websites devoted to harassing and revealing the real identities of people in adult videos, internet users shared extensive personal information about women who were in Girls Do Porn videos, including photographs lifted from their social media accounts. This doxing led several of the women in Girls Do Porn videos to endure ongoing harassment, depression, and suicidal thoughts, according to court records, online posts, and an interview with Motherboard.
Pornhub is hosting videos that have been viewed hundreds of millions of times. The women in them say they thought the videos would never reach the internet, and that being doxed has ruined their lives.
by Samantha Cole and Emanuel Maiberg
Pornhub, one of the most visited websites in the world, is hosting and profiting from videos of women who say their lives were ruined as a direct result of the videos being shared on its platform.
The videos were produced by Girls Do Porn, a "Pornhub Content Partner" that is being sued by 22 women for fraud, emotional distress damages, and misappropriation of their likeness. According to John O'Brien, one of the attorneys representing the women, at least 100 women interviewed by his team have said Girls Do Porn promised them the videos would never be widely distributed. "Plaintiffs’ counsel has spoken to well over 100 of these victims spanning from filming in 2009 until 2018, and each has each relayed a story identical to Plaintiffs," the lawyers representing the women said in a trial brief submitted to the San Diego Superior Court.
According to O'Brien, videos of at least 11 of the women involved in the case are still hosted on Pornhub.
Motherboard's investigation found that many women in Girls Do Porn videos erased their own online presences from the internet following doxing and bullying online, and private or public humiliation in real life.
Girls Do Porn is one of Pornhub's most popular channels and continues to upload videos to Pornhub, with the most recent video uploaded two weeks ago. Pornhub also pitches Girls Do Porn content as a reason to buy its paid, premium membership that gives users access to videos that aren't available for free.
How the alleged Girls Do Porn fraud works
Most Girls Do Porn videos begin the same way: A young woman sits on a hotel bed. A man off-camera chats with her about it being her first time filmed having sex and whether she's nervous.
Then, she has sex on camera, with a man whose face you never see.
The women in these videos were flown from around the country to San Diego by Girls Do Porn, to shoot a video that they allegedly were promised no one back home would ever see. The company, many of the women say, told them that the videos would be sold as DVDs to "private collectors" in Australia and New Zealand.
"I personally was told they would be sold on DVDs to another country and even asked again when I was in the car on my way to the hotel," one woman not attached to the lawsuit, who appeared in Girls Do Porn videos, told Motherboard. Motherboard granted the woman anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the videos.
"They also tried to pay me to tell other girls that everything went well and there were no consequences, but obviously before the videos were released on GDP [Girls Do Porn] then all over Pornhub," she said.
Other plaintiffs' depositions and testimonies in the Girls Do Porn case, as well as two first-person accounts from women who talked about their experiences online, similarly allege Girls Do Porn lied about how it would distribute the videos.
"When everything was released I spiraled into a major depression, everyone made fun of me, my dad couldn’t even look at me, to this day some of my family wants nothing to do with me," the woman who talked to Motherboard said.
The women suing Girls Do Porn allege that they were manipulated into signing contracts—sometimes under the influence of alcohol served by Girls Do Porn, or while being bullied by men in the hotel rooms where the scenes would take place, with a cameraman and male porn performer standing at the ready.
"The girls are lied to leading up to and while they're signing these agreements," O'Brien told Motherboard.
In a court filing, O'Brien alleges:
Just prior to filming, and after doing the model's makeup and hair, they [Girls Do Porn] present purported release agreements to sign and read to the young victims, which are missing terms, including price and their website – and while distracting the models, rushing the models, misrepresenting the content and alleged effect of the documents, and often having served the models alcohol (many of whom are underage – in fact, one plaintiff filmed the day after her 18th birthday, Mr. Pratt [one of Girls Do Porn's owners] and Defendants having recruited her to fly across the country for a sex video when she was a minor. Defendants provided her with a birthday cake during the filming process to emphasize her having just reached the age of consent).
The agreements they signed with Girls Do Porn are multi-page contracts full of fine legal print, and make no mention of the videos being posted online or even the name "Girls Do Porn," according to O'Brien. "So they do sign something, but they never get a copy of it. The first time they ever see it is in this litigation," he said.
"We cannot comment on specific issues relating to the models whose cases are going to trial soon," Aaron Sadock, an attorney who is defending Girls Do Porn, told Motherboard. "Generally, many adult-video content providers promote their websites by posting films on sites like Pornhub. The standard contract that my client entered with all of its models permits it to promote full length videos like any other adult website. We are confident that the contract will be upheld after a full consideration of all the facts at trial."
There are around 400 women featured on Girls Do Porn, and only 22 are suing the company. But O'Brien said he and his team has spoken to more than 100 women in Girls Do Porn videos who've had similar experiences.
The woman who spoke to Motherboard anonymously had the same experience, but wasn't even aware of the case until we contacted her.
"No one has ever reached out to me about it, nor did I feel like there was any point in trying to sue someone if I stupidly signed a contract that said they could do whatever they want with the video," she said.
How Pornhub enables doxing
As the 22 women who are suing Girls Do Porn explain in written testimonies provided to the court, posting these videos online, and specifically to hugely popular websites like Pornhub, has had a disastrous impact on their lives.
GirlsDoPorn.com, as a standalone website separate from Pornhub, still exists and charges for subscriptions. But its videos are also available on Pornhub as free shorter clips or longer "Pornhub Premium" content.
Multiple women who claim they were lied to by Girls Do Porn have said that they did not realize the videos were being widely distributed until they were featured on Pornhub. The women in the videos don't reveal their real names on camera, but once the videos were published on Pornhub, the real names of some were doxed by Pornhub users.
Do you have a news tip regarding harassment, doxing or adult content? You can contact Samantha Cole securely on Signal at 646-926-1726, Twitter direct message, encrypted email at samleecole@protonmail.ch, or email sam@motherboard.tv
On websites devoted to harassing and revealing the real identities of people in adult videos, internet users shared extensive personal information about women who were in Girls Do Porn videos, including photographs lifted from their social media accounts. This doxing led several of the women in Girls Do Porn videos to endure ongoing harassment, depression, and suicidal thoughts, according to court records, online posts, and an interview with Motherboard.
