The Role of Digital Platforms and Pornography in Online Sexual Violence Cases

Introduction

In this day and age, digital technology is a constant in everyone’s  life. It  is a space where people transfer, repeat, and reinforce real-world social dynamics (Grignoli, Barba & D’Ambrosio, 2022). This includes unequal power structures between women and men that manifest in new and heightened forms of gender-based violence in digital spaces. However, despite the scale of the problem, there are no specific binding instruments or measures in international law to prevent and contain online gender-based violence. Rather, pre-existing regulations are often referred to in order to defend women’s rights in the digital age.

This article outlines the reference standards in the international arena for eliminating violence against women online and human rights institutions’ insights concerning this issue. It then examines a case study involving the Pornhub platform in 2020 cases of online gender-based sexual violence. The article also explores the more positive implications of mainstream pornography for women in society, with the last part of the article offering a feminist approach to this industry.

Existing measures to tackle online gender-based violence

In today’s society, online gender-based violence has escalated rapidly, becoming a prevalent issue that disproportionately impacts women and girls globally. A study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit in 2020 reported that 38 percent of women had personally experienced online violence, 65 percent of women knew other women who had been targeted online, and 85 percent of women had witnessed online violence against other women (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2021). Women are more likely to be affected by several forms of online violence and those who face multiple forms of discrimination tend to experience even higher rates of violence in the digital space (Vogels, 2021). This includes  women with disabilities, migrant women, LGBTQIA+ people, Black and indigenous women and other women of colour (Vogels, 2021). Additionally, young women and girls, who most often resort to technology to access information and learn and connect with peers, are the most vulnerable to online violence according to 2020 Plan International’s annual State of the World’s Girls, which focused on young women and girls’ experiences on social media platforms (Plan International, 2020). Due to this alarming data, one would assume that online gender-based violence constitutes the same continuum as offline violence. However,  it presents some unique features that increase the risks for women. For instance, the UN Women has noted that, “scale, speed, and ease of Internet communication combined with anonymity, pseudonymity, affordability, impunity and limited liability […] can facilitate the proliferation of hate and harassment against women and girls” (UN Women, 2022).

There are no specific measures in international law  addressing online gender-based violence, however, there have been efforts to adapt existing laws and policies in this regard. The first legally binding international instrument aimed at creating a comprehensive legal framework to protect women against all forms of violence is undoubtedly the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also known as Istanbul Convention). The Convention aims to prevent violence, promote the protection of victims, and prevent impunity for perpetrators (UN Women, 2013). It is described by the United Nations itself as the gold standard of gender-based violence legislation (UN Women, 2013). The Convention recognises that forms of physical and moral aggression against women are based on a culturally derived relationship of gender prevarication by which women have traditionally been forced into a subordinate position in relation to men. On this basis, it enshrines the obligation of states to take all necessary measures to eradicate violence against women. The concept of violence presented in the Convention includes all acts of gender-based violence that cause or are likely to cause harm or suffering of a physical, sexual, psychological, or economic nature, including threats, coercion and deprivation of women’s freedom.

Online gender-based violence, a new phenomenon of the present era, is a form of violence that falls within the scope of the Convention, as noted by the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) in 2021. In its monitoring of the Convention, GREVIO has observed that national laws and policies often overlook the digital dimension of gender-based violence, so in its General Recommendation No. 1 it introduced the definition of “digital dimension of violence against women”, which includes both acts of violence perpetrated online, and acts of violence carried out using existing and not yet invented technologies (GREVIO General Recommendation No. 1, 2021). The text addresses online sexual harassment, online and technology-facilitated stalking and the digital dimension of psychological violence, calling on states to take measures to prevent violence against women, protect the victims, punish the perpetrators, and implement coordinated policies at all levels of government, including every member of society in the process (GREVIO General Recommendation No. 1, 2021).

UN Women reports that states and private companies such as internet intermediaries, women’s rights organisations, and other civil society organisations from all over the world are making efforts to document, prevent, and respond to online gender-based violence (UN Women, 2022). However, even though these actors recognise the need to address human rights violations that occur in online spaces, the “existing normative frameworks have not been explicitly developed to consider the unique contexts of [these] violations” (UN Women, 2022). Moreover, the legislation may be weakened “by poor implementation, inadequate financing and resources, limited awareness of laws, weak enforcement and consequent impunity for violence against women and girls” (Secretary General, 2022). This might also be due to the lack of a comprehensive and consistent definition of online gender-based violence, accurate data collection, and an inability to keep up with technological developments (UN Women, 2022). Another challenge is represented by the “tensions at the intersections of the rights of digital users – to freedom of expression, including access to information, to privacy and data protection – and the right to a life free from violence” (Secretary General, 2022). Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that one cannot appeal to the right to freedom of expression to justify a language that incites discrimination, hate, or violence. Consequently, as UN Women states, there are meaningful knowledge gaps that obstruct the identification of effective solutions to gender-based violence.

In order to tackle online violence against women and girls, it is necessary to initiate partnerships between the United Nations systems, governments, experts, civil society, women’s rights organisations, and technology and communications companies (Secretary General, 2022). Such collaborations may open innovative and effective approaches to respond to violence against women in digital spaces. After all, given the specificity of the cases and the factors distinctive to this form of violence, without a targeted program and a competent and coordinated team, attacks on women online will continue to worsen as digitalisation advances.

Pornhub: An emblematic case of online sexual violence against women and girls

Online violence against women can take place in many forms, including online sexual harassment, violations of privacy, doxing, non-consensual distribution of intimate material, cyberbullying, and sextortion among others (MenABLE, 2024). While states inevitably play a key role in implementing policies and measures, it is also important to consider  the responsibilities and role of technological agencies that control the channels through which online violence is perpetuated. This chapter addresses cases of sexual violence against women and girls online taking place on the  Canadian pornographic video sharing website Pornhub in 2020. In that year, an article published by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times stirred public opinion about the forms of violence involving online pornography sites. Nicholas Kristof publicly denounced the presence of rape videos on Pornhub’s site and that the platform “monetises child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags” (Kristof, 2020).

The Pornhub platform allows users to upload their own content. This often involves consenting adults, but may also depict scenes of child pornography and violence against women and girls. As Nicholas Kristof points out in his article, in some cases it is impossible to distinguish actual scenes of violence from performances staged to depict that situation, meaning that Pornhub itself is not aware of how much content is illegal. In addition, the website allows videos to be downloaded directly from the platform, which implies that even after a complaint is made to the authorities and the video is removed, the video itself can be re-uploaded on the platform or shared elsewhere. Within this context, Pornhub escapes responsibility for disseminating these videos and profits from them, remaining protected in the United States by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which guarantees that IT companies cannot be held legally liable for content posted by their users (Granziero, 2020). There has been little attention given to this problem, which might be due to the company’s influence in society. For instance, in a study carried out by DIGGITY marketing, it was found that Pornhub is ranked the third most influential company in the 21st century (DIGGITY marketing, 2020). Nicholas Kristof’s research showed that Pornhub’s company has moderators within its team to filter content posted by users, yet the total number of moderators is very low compared to other tech agencies. Facebook, for instance, indicated to the reporter that it has 15,000 moderators, while private pornography conglomerate Pornhub’s owner MindGeek has only 80 worldwide (Kristof, 2020). Questions arise on how 80 individuals manage a stream of 1.36 million videos per hour (Kristof, 2020), of which many are potentially illegal.

In this regard, a high-profile case, also reported by Nicholas Kristof, involved Pornhub and Girls Do Porn production company. The case dates back to 2016, when four women, later expanding to 22, filed a civil lawsuit against Girls Do Porn for fraud, emotional harm, and misappropriation of their image (Cole, 2019). The women were manipulated into signing contracts to produce and distribute pornographic videos, sometimes even under the influence of alcohol and while being abused by men present in the hotel rooms where scenes would be filmed (Valens, 2019). The agreements stipulated that the footage would only be available on DVD and never posted online, but, in reality, Girls Do Porn posted the videos online, which were transferred to Pornhub, without the consent and/or awareness of the women involved. This was confirmed and testified in the Court during the civil trial by a cameraman who worked for Girls Do Porn (Cole, 2019). In 2019, the Justice Department intervened on behalf of the plaintiffs, charging Girls Do Porn owner Michael Pratt, director and actor Ruben Garcia, and videographer Matthew Wolfe with sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion (Valens, 2019). Pornhub played a substantial role in disseminating the videos online, exposing victims to harassment, doxing, and exclusion from their families, however, it was not held legally liable for publishing the contents (Granziero, 2020). At the same time, it is worth noting that Pornhub’s liability was found on the grounds that it did not withdraw the series as soon as the problem surfaced. In fact, it was after the federal government’s decision, three years after the allegations, that Pornhub removed the Girls Do Porn channel (Cole, 2019), probably because of the media’s attention to the case.Nevertheless, many videos are still available today.

The Girls Do Porn scandal and the aforementioned article published in the New York Times prompted a clearer response from the porn site on the continuous violations of women and girls’ rights, following increased pressure not only on Pornhub , but also on its business partners such as Visa and Mastercard, which suspended their services on the platform (Liberatore, 2020). In fact, in 2020 the website announced new policies to monitor non-consensual content. These included limiting the ability to upload videos to identified users only and establishing a new team to  review uploaded videos, verify their legality, and possibly block their download (Granziero, 2020). These measures have the potential to reduce the volume of illegal content on the platform, but is contingent  on whether Pornhub implements them responsibly and rigorously. It is essential to prevent the dissemination of content demonstrating violence against women and girls and to identify direct perpetrators. However, it is also important to clarify the responsibilities of the platform on which the videos were posted and which benefits from them (Granziero, 2020).

Given the abundance of consensual porn on the platform, the deletion of illegal porn does not harm the  business model. Nevertheless, over time, Pornhub has shown an indifference and unconcern about the deletion of non-consensual materials and content with child abuse. The reason for this   has yet to be identified.

The impact of mainstream pornography and possible alternatives in the sector

The problematic aspect of the porn industry is not limited to the standard script of non-consensual sharing of intimate material of women and girls, but also there are also concerns related to professional videos shot by paid producers and performers. Author Silvia Granziero, in her article published in The Vision, denounced the low wages, drug administration, degrading working conditions of performers, as well as non-compliance with contracts about how the content is shared (Granziero, 2020). In particular, the writer reported the testimony of French actress and director Ovidie, who discovered that some of her pornographic footage was given to third parties without her knowledge, effectively excluding Ovidie from earnings (Granziero, 2020). In 2017, the French actress and director produced a docu-report that aired on the French channel Canal+ to chronicle her investigation into the multinationals of the mainstream pornographic industry. With the launch of YouPorn in 2006 and the subsequent collapse of the DVD pornographic industry, the market began to saturate due to amateur videos accessible for free on the internet (Le Grand Journal, 2017). The Internet has made adult content accessible for a wide range of people. Therefore,  just as distribution has changed, so has production. They have adapted to the new market conditions, often to the detriment of female performers. Given the high volume of content, to keep up with the competition, wages for performers have halved and their working conditions have worsened, encouraging the production of increasingly violent and degrading scenes and the mistreatment of performers on set (Granziero, 2020). According to Ovidie’s research, this change is due to the escalation of cynicism among content consumers and their own quest for increasingly extreme content (Granziero, 2020).

However, this relationship shift between the porn industry and production companies has been followed by a further reformulation of the industry by performers, who have begun to break free from their control by taking advantage of the benefits of the Internet in their favour. The documentary released by Netflix in 2023, Money Shot, reports some testimonies of sex workers who organise and manage their work in complete autonomy, filling all the roles of a media company, starting from the production, recording, editing and directing of contents to their publication and sponsorship (Netflix, 2023). In this way, the performer, also qualified as a content creator, has full autonomy, power, and freedom. This includes their ability to dictate their own terms about which scenes to produce, with whom to record them, how to publicise them, and how to manage clients, allowing them to achieve economic independence (Netflix, 2023). There are many favoured platforms, including Onlyfans and Patreon for example, but also Pornhub, which in 2018 inaugurated its Modelhub section, a paid option where verified users can publish their videos and earn money from them (Netflix, 2023).

Along with self-employment, a new conception of pornographic production is making its way into the industry that goes beyond mainstream pornography and recognizes  the nuance of feminism. For instance, ordinary adult content might have been traditionally aimed at male pleasure, making use of the presence of women for the purpose of male ejaculation in a purely heterosexual relationship. However, in feminist pornography the focus is on female desire and the woman herself as an active subject, while also  promoting the diversity of the performers involved, overcoming barriers of racism and prejudice. These feminist-oriented companies also make it their goal to ensure greater equality and observance of people inside and outside the screen by providing content that respects human dignity and consent. Among those of greatest popularity are Ersties, a production company with a focus on female pleasure that was founded in Berlin in 2009, in which the video production team is composed entirely of women (ERSTIES, 2018).Erika Lust, a director of ethical pornographic films, places women in an active role in films by focusing on sensuality without sidelining the rights and needs of her cast (ERIKA LUST, 2024).

Such content from sex workers, as well as feminist pornography, is created for and by consenting adults who distance themselves from videos of sexual exploitation of women and minors. The latter constitutes a crime against women and girls on which digital platforms will have to take action within the broader context of the internet industry, strengthening restrictions and moderation systems for published content, without criminalising pornography as a whole. Sex work, in fact, is distinguished from sexual exploitation precisely by the implication of consent at every stage of the work. It is indeed through the work of feminist pornography that, by opposing the mainstream pornography industry, the culture of consent is promoted, enhancing one of the most significant claims of the feminist current, namely sexual liberation, which is synonymous with the full reappropriation of the female body in a society where women are not allowed to show themselves as sexual beings.

Conclusion

To date, there are no specific international legal instruments specifically aimed at preventing violence against women online, and despite the efforts of international institutions and states, the problem persists. Pre-existing measures are neither sufficient nor adequate to address the specifics of the phenomena in digital spaces, just as the groups hired to deal with it are unprepared to both combat and prevent the phenomenon.

In this context, questions are raised about the responsibilities of online pornographic platforms that are often the conduits for these forms of violence against women. This article reported on cases of non-consensual sharing of content on the site Pornhub in 2020, which involved the representation of violence and child abuse. The platform was not held legally responsible for the content posted by users, yet those scandals brought to light several issues in the industry, including not only the structural problem of violence against women and girls, but also the degrading conditions of sex workers in the industry. As mentioned above, there are no concrete solutions and the platforms themselves are disinterested in the issue, intervening only when they are left with no other choice. On the other hand, there have been steps in the right direction through the empowerment of performers and the development of feminist pornography.

This research has demonstrated  the internet issues in which states, in collaboration with agencies, digital companies, civil society, and human rights bodies, will have to take action to eliminate violence against women and girls from society. At the same time, emphasis should be put on the need not to criminalise and ban the pornographic industry, in which consenting and aware adults work. In the face of a total removal of pornography, performers would see their rights to express themselves as sexual beings denied, fueling discrimination and stigma against sex workers.

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