Revealed Internal Files Expose Why Porn Industry Faces Deep Distrust

What mindset do employees at adult content companies hold when profiting from videos depicting the abuse of children?

Due to a procedural error in a federal court in Alabama, thousands of internal documents from a leading adult video platform were inadvertently made public. These records, mostly from 2020 or earlier, expose some workers treating the presence of such content with alarming nonchalance.

One employee messaged a colleague, expressing a cavalier attitude: “I hope I never get in trouble for having those vids on my computer LOOOOL.”

Meanwhile, others acknowledged the gravity of the issue, with one noting, “There is A LOT of very, very obvious and disturbing CSAM here,” referring to child sexual abuse material.

Internal files reveal that as of May 2020, the platform hosted over 700,000 videos flagged by users as depicting rape, assaults on minors, or other problematic content. This high number stemmed in part from the platform’s policy of only reviewing videos for removal after they had been flagged at least 16 times.

The company also hindered efforts to report harmful videos by restricting the ability to flag content to registered users only. One internal communication admitted this “will greatly reduce overall flag volume.”

This platform, along with affiliated sites such as Redtube, Tube8, and YouPorn, does not produce videos itself but rather hosts user-uploaded content.