| For years, nonconsensual videos flourished on the Internet. How have adult sites been reined in?  Illustration by Najeebah Al-Ghadban Pornhub is one of the largest pornography sites on the Internet, and one of the most visited sites in the world. It’s owned by the company MindGeek—which also owns RedTube, YouPorn, and Brazzers—and, “like other tech platforms, MindGeek has little incentive to remove potentially profitable content,” Sheelah Kolhatkar writes, in an eye-opening piece, in this week’s issue, about the fight to take down the nonconsensual videos that have been appearing on Pornhub for years. Kolhatkar speaks with current and former Pornhub employees, victims’ advocates, and performers, and follows the story of Rachel, who, when she was fifteen, was blackmailed by a man into sending explicit photos and videos of herself, which were later uploaded to Pornhub. Rachel struggled to get them removed; she stopped sleeping and even thought about killing herself. A former Pornhub employee told Kolhatkar that, at the time, MindGeek had the ability to remove videos on its sites while they were being investigated, but they would delay on purpose. By the time a review was complete, ad space could have been sold around the content. “The user did not get punished,” the former employee said. “MindGeek still made money.” —Jessie Li, newsletter editor If you like the New Yorker Daily, please share it with a friend. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. | 
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