In just a few months of Sound Investigations’ existence, Sound Investigations has had an outsized impact. Sound Investigations released eight undercover videos, featuring five different Pornhub employees, with over 25 million video impressions on X in addition to mainstream media coverage. Most importantly, change-makers saw our undercover reporting and took action.
September 21, Member of Canadian Parliament Arnold Viersen cited our investigations on the floor of Parliament and condemned Pornhub’s actions.
September 29, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and 25 other state attorneys general issued a letter to Pornhub demanding changes based on Sound Investigations’ videos.
October 3, 62 victims launched a new class action lawsuit against Pornhub, specifically citing Sound Investigations’ first two videos, including Pornhub’s Technical Product Manager Mike Farley’s indictment of Pornhub’s Chief Legal Officer and Chief Product Officer in the first undercover video.
December 19, a judge certified another class action lawsuit against Pornhub in Alabama’s Northern District court. This suit will subpoena two subjects featured in Sound Investigations’ videos, Mike Farley and Dillon Rice, as material witnesses. Farley, who told the undercover camera, “I wouldn’t be able to defend this in court” will now have to try to defend Pornhub’s actions in court.
Pornhub’s lawyers have sent Sound Investigation four legal threats, each growing increasingly desperate, emotional, and filled with obvious lies, denials, and personal insults.
Pornhub is the ninth most trafficked website in the world and a part of Aylo (formerly MindGeek) which owns almost all pornography production companies and websites in North America. Pornhub is a powerful and wealthy international company, but Sound Investigations will never blink, nor will our cameras.
In 2023, Louisiana, Utah, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Virginia passed laws with overwhelming bipartisan support that require IDs to access pornography sites to prevent these sites from illegally serving their products to children. By Pornhub’s own admission, Pornhub’s traffic dropped 80% in Louisiana after the new law forced Pornhub to require ID verification for its users. After Louisiana, Pornhub began lawfare against states that enacted similar laws and is protesting by blocking access to its sites altogether in many states.
North Carolina and Montana passed ID laws that go into effect January 1, 2024.
Texas also passed an ID law this year. While a judge initially issued an injunction against the law’s enforcement, Attorney General Paxton appealed and won a stay on the injunction while the appeal continues through the courts.
Legislators in Indiana and Tennessee have very recently introduced ID requirement bills that may be voted on next year.
What Sound Investigations has done in 2023 on a shoestring budget, with no media or government connections, and with willpower is unprecedented. No one else does what Sound Investigations is doing: undercover journalism with a tangible impact.
With your support, 2024 will be a bigger year with bigger successes.
Please help support Sound Investigations’ work at soundinvestigations.com/donate or email donor@soundinvestigations.com. Make a real difference in the world.
Sound Investigations Team