Canadian Press file photo

By Shaun Penner

Committee tables report

Removing non-consensual content, better regulation needed for sites like Pornhub: Ethics Commitee chair Warkentin

Jun 18, 2021 | 5:30 AM

A parliamentary committee chaired by Grande Prairie-Mackenzie MP Chris Warkentin is urging that Canadians victimized by non-consensual content posted to Pornhub and other sites be able to get such material removed immediately, while it is also pushing for those responsible for hosting non-consensual and illegal content to be held accountable.

In a report tabled in the House of Commons Thursday, the standing committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics recommends that online platforms, such as Pornhub (owned by Montreal-based MindGeek) be held liable for failing to prevent material involving child sexual abuse, or other non-consensual images, from being uploaded.

The committee’s report also recommends online platforms be liable for failing to ensure that material is deleted quickly, or else face penalties.

It also calls for measures to be brought in to verify that people depicted in pornographic content are at least 18 years old and consented to its publication.

This report follows much testimony heard by the committee over the last several months as it looked into platforms like Pornhub, following allegations against the company from women, some underage, seeking to have non-consensual content of them removed from the website.

“They described their inability to get this company to remove images, even though they were clearly images of (the victim), and they were clearly non-consensual,” Warkentin said.

Among those who testified for the committee was 19-year-old Serena Fleites, who was in Grade 7 when a sexually explicit video of her was uploaded to Pornhub.

The California resident told the committee that Pornhub took more than a week to respond to her initial request to take the video down, and weeks more to actually remove it, only to let it emerge again days later.

“It had already been downloaded by people all across the world, basically, and it would always be uploaded over and over and over again,” Fleites told the committee on Feb. 1.

“They’re really selfish. They need to really look at themselves in the mirror because they’re prioritizing money and content over actual human beings’ lives.”

Pornhub is among one of the most visited websites in the world on a monthly basis.

According to the site Fasthosts, Pornhub saw an average of 3.2 billion visits per month in 2020, ranking 10^th highest on the worldwide web.

Warkentin claims that indifference from Mindgeek to swiftly remove the content, and other material like it, was also met by government and legal inaction.

READ MORE: Pornhub policies reveal legal gaps and lack of enforcement around exploitive videos

He says government intervention or law enforcement were not what eventually motivated the company to purge a plethora of its content, but rather its sources of receiving payment.

Warkentin says Visa and Mastercard demanded the company remove any questionable images and videos that could either be non-consensual or illegal.

“Unless those were removed, Visa and Mastercard were going to withdraw their ability to collect membership subscriptions,” said Warkentin. “It was only after that that this company actually removed nearly 10 million images that they knew were questionable… because they were able to remove them so quickly.”

Warkentin says the committee also wants to see the federal government create a legal framework to require internet-service providers that host pornographic content to get more proactive about moderating content and enforcing rules and be held legally accountable.

“We heard testimony from the United States that the FBI would have shut this operation down if in fact it had been based out of the United States,” said Warkentin.

“We believe that Canadians deserve answers as to why the government is turning a blind eye to this. Why we have become a safe haven here in Canada.”

In April, the Liberal government announced it would introduce legislation to create a new regulator that will ensure online platforms remove harmful content, including depictions of children and intimate images that are shared without consent.

“It’s late in the game, but we believe the government still has a responsibility to do it.”

The committee’s report was tabled with unanimous support from its members Thursday, a committee which is made up of MPs from all registered parties in the House of Commons.

Warkentin says this shows this is not a partisan issue, but one that must be addressed right away.

“Even members of the Liberal caucus are calling on their government to do better. Members of the NDP, the Bloc (Quebecois), and Conservatives all came together to say that the government has failed.”

Having heard the stories from victims through months of testimony, he says he was ashamed to realize such inaction was begin taken in Canada.

“Those allegations are just heart-stopping. They are just unimaginable,” said Warkentin.

“It was startling for me as a parliamentarian, but also as a father. To know that this type of activity was ongoing, that we had companies that were so callous, that were so dismissive to pleas of help.”

Warkentin says the committee is now calling on the federal government to swiftly enact its recommendations.

“I’m hopeful that the government will be moved to act, and shamed to act quite frankly, and that they’ll do it soon.”

(With files from the Canadian Press)