Customer support: “We won’t ask you… if you have the consent,” “won’t call the cops”
KEY POINTS:
On undercover camera, Sean Morrier, Senior Software Engineer at Pornhub’s ad network, TrafficJunky describes his work as “not ethical.” “Porn production: not ethical… Advertisements on porn: not ethical… it’s all problematic.”
Morrier: “It’s very blurry when you don’t have confirmed people. You don’t know if it was an actual rape video or fantasy. And I don’t think they cared… Revenge porn: they didn’t give a f**k.” “As long as money’s being made, morals get blurred.”
On Ethical Capital Partners buyout of Pornhub, Morrier asks, “Why is a company with the word ‘ethical’ in its name buying us?”
TrafficJunky customer support employees explain, “[Advertiser account] is not likely to become suspended” for uploading underage explicit content. “We won’t ask you before you uploaded the pictures if you have the consent.” “We, on our end, won’t call the cops on you.”
[MONTREAL – November 29]
Today, Sound Investigations releases its fifth major undercover video investigating Pornhub and its parent company, Aylo (formerly MindGeek).
Sean Morrier is a current senior software engineer at Aylo, specifically working on TrafficJunky, Aylo’s ad network Aylo uses to show paid advertisements on Pornhub and Aylo’s other porn sites. Advertisers can upload images and videos to TrafficJunky and pay to have them shown on Aylo’s sites and before porn videos. TrafficJunky does not require any identification or verification of the legality of the content advertisers uploaded.
Morrier admits to this lack of process and says, “Consent of the people in the video. We don’t, I don’t think we look at that.” He explains that Aylo content moderators, “won’t watch the full video. They’ll do like snippets” after the advertiser uploads a video and before the moderators approve the video to run on Aylo’s sites.
Content moderator Jenna Rolfe previously explained that this lax moderation has allowed underage and nonconsensual content to run on Aylo’s sites unchecked. Sometimes, Rolfe says, if someone does happen to see herself in an ad, she will contact Rolfe’s former team to demand the ad be taken down, but Rolfe warns people who do not use Pornhub may never know they are in an ad on the site.
Sound Investigations called TrafficJunky’s customer support a few times posing as prospective advertisers. Each time, the support staff assured the journalist porn ads did not need any verification before uploading.
On the first call to TrafficJunky, TrafficJunky employee Nicoletta reassured the undercover journalist that the advertiser account “is not likely to become suspended” for uploading underage explicit content.
Another TrafficJunky employee, Tony, reiterated, “We won’t ask you before you upload the pictures if you have the consent… The legality of your activities, of your content: that’s something that we won’t really ask you,” and said, if someone hypothetically uploaded illegal content, “We, on our end, won’t call the cops on you.”
US federal law requires all US-based internet companies to report all known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). After immense pressure a few years ago, though based in Canada, Pornhub itself says it began reporting to NCMEC. The statements by these TrafficJunky employees indicate Aylo’s other sites may still not be reporting to NCMEC. In a statement to Sound Investigations, Aylo did not address Sound Investigations’ question of whether TrafficJunky reports to NCMEC or not.
TrafficJunky publicly states it does not allow pornographic cartoons depicting minors. However, another TrafficJunky employee, Manuel, offers, “All models should be 18 years old and above, unless it’s going to be an adult game like hentai [Japanese cartoon porn].”
In March 2023, a new firm, Ethical Capital Partners, bought then-MindGeek (now Aylo). Morrier says he and his colleagues balked at the name, asking, “Why is a company with the word ‘ethical’ in its name buying us?” Morrier says MindGeek rebranded as Aylo to escape the publicity from “all the lawsuits and s**t attached to the old name.” Later, Morrier clarifies his attacks on his own company as unethical saying, “porn production: not ethical… advertisements on porn: not ethical. An easy way to make money. And it’s all problematic.”
Morrier says Pornhub has hosted “underage, nonconsensual” explicit content, again attacking his company saying, “I don’t think they cared… Revenge porn: they didn’t give a f**k.”
Because Aylo’s user-generated content sites like Pornhub and TrafficJunky do not verify age and consent of all uploaded models, Aylo continues to run into legal trouble. As Morrier says, “It’s blurry when you don’t have confirmed people.” “As long as money’s being made, morals get blurred.”
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.
Sean Morrier LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-morrier/
Sean Morrier LinkedIn archived: https://archive.is/Ejku5
