[MONTREAL — September 13, 2023]
Sound Investigations releases undercover footage of Pornhub technical product manager and early employee, Mike Farley. Speaking to an undercover journalist, Farley describes what he calls a “loophole” in the Pornhub age and consent verification process where Pornhub does not verify the identities of user-uploaded videos that don’t show faces. Farley admits that rapists and traffickers exploit this loophole to “make a lot of money.”
At-a-glance:
Farley: “How are you going to tell me who’s in that video if the girl’s not showing her face?”
Farley: “That wouldn’t hold in court.”
Farley: “That would be the loophole that I always, like, I look at that, and I’m like, ‘That’s stupid,’ but everybody is just kind of rolling with it.”
Journalist: “Why do they roll with it? Why don’t they say something?”
Farley: “Because it costs money. It would be counterintuitive to the business.”
Farley: “We’ve brought it up to the CPO [chief product officer]. We’ve brought it up to the CLO [chief legal officer], and they’re both telling us it’s all good. And the CPO is especially telling us like, “F*ck off. It’s all good. Stop. Like, shut up.’”
Farley: “Using my f*cking head, this is f*cking ret*rded. I wouldn’t be able to defend this in court.”
Journalist: “What if the government was to find out about this loophole. What would they do?”
Farley: “I don’t know. They’re not going to do sh*t. They’ll do nothing.”
Journalist: “Why?”
Farley: “Because they’re dumb. They don’t know sh*t. Because they’re not qualified to identify the loophole.”
Farley: “They’re like, ‘It’s all good. I’m not going to get caught. It’s fine.’”
Pornhub is the most trafficked pornography website and one of the most trafficked websites overall in the world, according to Similarweb, a web traffic analyzer. Pornhub is commonly called a “tube site,” allowing the general public to upload videos. Pornhub’s parent company, MindGeek, now rebranding as Aylo, owns many big-name porn sites and studios across North America. News reports and lawsuits have claimed Pornhub is complicit in abusers uploading illegal videos, and Pornhub has publicly claimed to have cleaned up its site, following heightened scrutiny from a popular New York Times piece by Nicholas Kristof.
Pornhub continues to allow anyone to upload pornographic videos, as long as the person uploading shows an ID such as a driver’s license. However, Farley describes a major “loophole:” these supposedly verified uploaders can upload videos of people without showing their faces, “which is very common,” and Pornhub does not verify these videos contain consenting adults. These uploaders can then monetize these videos to gain a share of Pornhub’s ad revenue.
When Sound Investigations’ journalist asked if rapists use Pornhub’s loophole, Farley gave a resounding, “Of course. Of course.” When asked about human traffickers, Farley replied, “To make money? Of course.”
Farley says he and his direct boss, Ramsey Belmaaza, have brought up this loophole to officers of the company, including Matt Kilicci, but the chief product officer has told him to “shut up.” Farley notes that his boss and he recorded a meeting with Pornhub’s chief product officer and chief legal officer to show they tried to warn about this scandal, “if ever sh*t hits the fan.”
The Canadian government has scrutinized MindGeek in the past, but Farley claims the government is incapable of finding problems with his company. While Farley worries over this Pornhub verification loophole, he takes comfort in the fact that government regulators “are dumb. They don’t know sh*t. Because they’re not qualified to identify the loophole.”
Farley presents an obvious solution to the loophole but says Pornhub’s profits come first. “You shouldn’t have content up that you can’t identify the person… They would lose a lot of money… They’re like, ‘It’s all good. I’m not going to get caught. It’s fine.’”
18 U.S.C. § 2257 and 2257A, adopted in 1988, requires producers of pornography to verify the age of every performer. Failing to produce records of age verification is a criminal offense in the United States.
This is a developing story. Sound Investigations will be releasing more undercover videos imminently.
Contact media@soundinvestigations.com or 404-955-7002.
Sound Investigations is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Mike Farley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-farley-21b187110/
Mike Farley LinkedIn archived: https://archive.is/YUTec
