Pornhub is acquired by Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount
Pornhub’s owners are set to cash in on the sale of parent company MindGeek to Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount.
The firm, which claims to specialize in technology opportunities that “require ethical leadership,” Announced the acquisition on its website yesterday.
ECP says it plans to use its experience to build MindGeek while fighting illegal content online and ensuring ethical online practices.
The sales come a day after the release of a shocking Netflix documentary Money Shot: The Pornhub Story, which focuses on trafficking and exploitation in the industry.
MindGeek, which owns a large portfolio of pornographic websites, said that with ECP’s support it will “advance its research and adoption of the latest and greatest online security protocols available to ensure it remains a global leader in trust and safety and their platforms”. they are inclusive and positive spaces for adult sex.’
Performers, journalists and alleged victims spoke candidly about the new Netflix documentary
Former CEO Feras Antoon (left) and former COO David Tassillo (right), who have resigned from MindGeek, the company best known for operating Pornhub.
Attention focused on Pornhub’s practices after journalist Nicholas Kristof published a column in the New York Times titled “Kids on Pornhub,” detailing some of the surviving stories of young people who had been sexually abused and posted on the website.
‘[The] The site is infested with rape videos. It monetizes child rape, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynistic content, and images of women suffocating in plastic bags,” Kristof wrote.
Pornhub later banned uploads from unverified users.
Mastercard and Visa cut their services to Pornhub in light of the report.
Its top executives also resigned in 2022 after MindGeek was accused of hosting videos showing non-consensual and underage sex.
CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo remained shareholders in the company and led it for more than a decade.
Antoon co-founded Brazzers in 2005 and teamed up with Tassilo to buy MindGeek (then called Manwin) in 2012 from German businessman Fabian Thylmann.
Antoon and Tassillo denied claims that their company allowed explicit videos of minors and people without their consent to remain on their sites.
The company said at the time that MindGeek’s executive leadership team would continue to run the company on an interim basis while it searched for replacements.
It’s unclear if Antoon and Tassillo were still shareholders when MindGeek decided to sell to Ethical Capital Partners, it announced the day after the Netflix documentary was released.
Documentary filmmaker Suzanne Hillinger worked with Kristof on the hour-and-a-half exposé Money Shot, launched March 15, which looked at allegations of sex trafficking and rape videos shared on the website.
The film features interviews with artists, activists, and former employees and claims to offer “a deep dive into the successes and scandals of Pornhub.”
Journalists, complainants and victims of the alleged mismanagement of the site’s content speak candidly in the documentary.
Money Shot follows the website from its inception in 2007 to the present, focusing on the difficulty the site has had in protecting its creators.
The new owners, Ethical Capital Partners, hope to ensure high standards, ensuring that MindGeek’s platforms “are at the forefront of Internet innovation, trust, and safety, and remain home to an inclusive global community of creators, artists, and artists.” , artists and adult users who celebrate creativity. and sexual expression.’
A press release said that ECP would invest in MindGeek as the Internet leader in the fight against illegal content online, emphasizing “child protection, intimate image safety and digital self-determination.”
The documentary premiered on March 15, the day before ECP announced the acquisition.
PayPal also cut off services to Pornhub in 2019, alleging that “certain commercial payments” had been made through the site without PayPal’s permission. Points of sale reclaimed the payment platform had ‘long discriminated against artists’ and claimed thousands would be harmed by it
In response to Kristof’s article, Pornhub said it is “irresponsible and flagrantly false” to suggest that it allows images of child sexual abuse on its site.
Pornhub added that it employs moderators to review each upload and that it removes illegal material.
MailOnline has reached out to Ethical Capital Partners for comment.