Pornhub top execs resign over non-consensual and underage sex vids claims

A pair of top execs at the company behind leading adult website Pornhub have stood down after accusations the platform hosts non-consensual and underage sex videos.

Feras Antoon and David Tassillo – who are Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Mindgeek – resigned after more than 10 years following a scathing report into the firm's practises by The New Yorker magazine.

In a recent statement MindGeek, whose sites such as Pornhub, Brazzers and RedTube are viewed by 150 million peoplee very day, said, "'Antoon and Tassillo leave MindGeek's day-to-day operations after more than a decade in leadership positions with the company."

READ MORE: Full list of Pornhub's most popular searches of 2021 as Brits are second-biggest audience

It added that. "MindGeek's executive leadership team will run day-to-day operations on an interim basis, with a search underway for replacements."

A spokesperson for MindGeek, which is based in Luxembourg, also said the two men's plan to step down had been planned since early 2022, adding that both will remain shareholders in the company, reports The Daily Mail.

The firm's statement also criticised The New Yorker's expose which highlighted how one 15-year-old British girl had struggled to remove explicit videos of herself which had been uploaded to their sites without her consent.

"The New Yorker had the opportunity to seriously evaluate what works in fighting illegal material on the internet by looking at the facts, comparing the policies of platforms, and studying the results,' MindGeek's statement continued.

"Instead, they chose to ignore the fact that MindGeek has more comprehensive and effective policies than any other major platform on the internet, and decided to peddle the same gross mischaracterizations that anti-porn extremists have spewed for decades."

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Originally named Manwin, Mindgeek was also hit with a lawsuit last year alleging it had violated federal sex trafficking and child pornography laws by allowing, and profiting from, its users posting pornographic videos featuring people under the legal age of 18.

Expected to go to trial in 2023, the class action's allegations have been denied by Mindgeek.

And, in 2020, Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc suspended processing payments on Pornhub after a New York Times report found unlawful content on its website.

Pornhub responded in a statement stating that the report was 'irresponsible and flagrantly untrue' in its suggestion that images of the sexual abuse of children are allowed onto its site.

It added that it employs moderators to screen every upload and remove illegal material.

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