United Nations human rights experts are expanding their investigation into Pornhub and its parent company Aylo Holdings by scrutinizing the role of major tech and payment companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
The intervention comes from UN Special Rapporteurs Reem Alsalem and Ana Brian Nougrères, who raised concerns about what they described as a broader ecosystem enabling the distribution and monetization of abusive sexual content online. The experts said payment processors, search engines, recommendation systems, and online platforms may have helped amplify or financially support harmful material.
The UN experts are not calling for a blanket ban on pornography. Instead, they are focusing specifically on content involving alleged abuse, coercion, trafficking, child sexual abuse material, and non-consensual intimate imagery uploaded to user-generated pornography platforms.
According to the statement, investigators are examining how large platforms and financial systems may have contributed to the visibility and profitability of abusive material through advertising systems, search indexing, recommendation algorithms, payment processing, and monetization infrastructure.
The scrutiny revives long-running criticism surrounding Pornhub’s handling of illegal and non-consensual content. In 2020, Visa and Mastercard suspended payment processing services for Pornhub following mounting pressure from regulators and advocacy groups after reports alleged the platform hosted abusive material. Pornhub later removed millions of unverified videos and restricted uploads to verified users.
The UN experts specifically criticized a deferred prosecution agreement reached in 2023 between Aylo and US authorities. Under the arrangement, Aylo avoided criminal conviction while agreeing to compensation payments and external compliance monitoring through 2026. The rapporteurs argued the agreement risked reinforcing “corporate impunity” by allowing the company to avoid full prosecution.
The statement also referenced individual cases involving women whose intimate videos were allegedly uploaded to Pornhub without consent and later spread across hundreds of websites. UN experts said victims often struggled to remove the content completely, even after reporting it repeatedly.
Google, Meta, and Microsoft were not accused of directly hosting illegal content. However, the UN experts argued that major technology companies should face greater accountability for how their systems distribute, recommend, and profit from harmful material online.
The experts are also urging governments in the United States and Canada to introduce binding third-party age and consent verification requirements for user-generated pornography platforms. They argued that voluntary moderation measures have repeatedly failed to prevent abuse.
The pressure arrives as governments worldwide continue tightening online safety regulations aimed at harmful content and child protection. The European Union has already opened Digital Services Act investigations into several major platforms over child safety concerns, while regulators in the UK have increased enforcement tied to age verification laws and illegal online content.