A federal judge ruled Friday that Visa helped Pornhub “monetize child porn” and sex trafficking — a decision that could have long-lasting implications for credit card companies, legal observers say.
The court denied Visa’s motion to be dropped from a lawsuit against porn parent company MindGeek, ruling there was enough evidence to show the company “knowingly provid[ed] the tool used to complete the crime” of distributing child pornography.
The decision was made in connection with a suit filed by a woman who claims Pornhub dragged its heels after she warned it was hosting an explicit video taken of her when she was 13 — at one point requiring photographic evidence that she was the same child in the video.
After several weeks, the clip, entitled “13-Year Old Brunette Shows Off For the Camera,” was taken down but reuploaded on other MindGeek sites in 2014, garnering millions of views and earning the company advertising money facilitated by Visa, the victim alleged. The illicit clip was still on the company’s sites as recently as 2020, according to the suit.
The plaintiff fell into a deep depression, tried to kill herself and became a heroin user after her unwanted infamy, she claimed. Still underage, she began acting in other porn videos produced by an older man to support her habit, the lawsuit said.