07/16/2020
How can YOU STOP human trafficking? Support Freedom United
Here is a great non-profit that brings awareness to all the different manners that enslave people today. This story is gutting and trigger warning it speaks of s*xual abuse.
"I sent P**nhub begging emails. I pleaded with them. I wrote, 'Please, I'm a minor, this was assault, please take it down.'"– Rose[1]
Rose was r***d when she was 14 years old. As a First Nations girl growing up in Ohio, she was threatened at knifepoint and taken to a house where three white men r***d her and filmed the assault. Shockingly, she later discovered that the videos were uploaded to po*******hy-sharing site, P**nhub, and had widely circulated among her classmates.[2]
P**nhub is able to generate profits off videos – some of which show exploitation of trafficking victims – thanks to credit card companies processing payments from the site. This includes Visa, Mastercard and Discover.
PayPal has already terminated its partnership with P**nhub as a result of a 2019 investigation by the Internet Watch Foundation that found 118 cases of child r**e and s*xual abuse on P**nhub.[3]
That’s why we are urging you to call on these credit card companies to wake up to transactions linked to human trafficking and **nhub.
Take action: **nhub
For six months, Rose begged P**nhub to take down videos of her exploitation. It was only upon finally sending them an email threatening legal action that the videos were deleted. But victims shouldn’t have to be re-traumatized in order to get justice.
P**nhub has already been pushed to issue a statement saying it has a “steadfast commitment to eradicating and fighting any and all illegal content on the internet, including non-consensual content and child s*xual abuse material,” emphasizing that the tech community needs to put into place comprehensive safeguards.[4]
Still, current efforts clearly aren’t enough and credit card companies shouldn’t be satisfied. As a consumer, you can send an email to Visa, Mastercard, and Discover to demand change.
Rose isn’t the only victim. Twenty-two women were also deceived and coerced by Michael Pratt, owner of GirlsDoP**n, into performing s*x acts on film that were uploaded to P**nhub.[5]
The women sued GirlsDoP**n, winning a $12.7 million lawsuit against the company as the channel’s owners were charged with s*x trafficking. P**nhub agreed to remove the content but months later, these videos were still being shared on P**nhub, forcing victims to relive their trauma. One woman found that a video she appeared in had amassed over nine million views.
Even s*x workers in the industry have criticized Mindgeek – the owner of P**nhub. Performers have called out P**nhub and Mindgeek for stealing their content, seriously impacting their livelihoods and “having destabilized and monopolized” the p**n industry.[6] Not only does P**nhub have a piracy and trafficking problem, but it profits from sharing illegal content.
By cutting ties with P**nhub, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover can show that they reject working with a company that is only concerned with generating profit, even at the expense of trafficking victims. It shouldn’t have taken Rose six months of begging to have her assault taken down.
Join the campaign today and urge Visa, Mastercard and Discover to **nhub.
https://www.freedomunited.org
https://www.freedomunited.org
Join the largest anti-slavery movement in the world. Human trafficking is unacceptable. We need your help to stop it. Your signature will make a difference.
