The US Federal Court requests “international legal assistance” from the Superior Court of Quebec to force three ex-executives and a former employee of Pornhub to testify in a class action on behalf of victims appearing in child pornography . The company refuses, pleading that it cannot be “held responsible for content published by third parties” who have uploaded videos to its site.
The request for assistance comes amid a media tour by Pornhub’s new owners, Ethical Capital Partners. They intend to defend their new mechanism for validating the identity and age of pornographic actors and actresses who provide content to its RedTube, YouPorn and Pornhub sites.
According to what has been learned The Press, the court was seized, on February 15, of a request for letters rogatory against the four Quebecers. In this type of proceeding, a court in another country seeks the power to collect evidence in Canada as part of a prosecution.
The legal documents concerning this request for commission of request are entirely sealed, so it is impossible to consult them at the Montreal courthouse. US Federal Court documents obtained The Press however, reveal several details about the request.
In California, a woman referred to by the generic pseudonym “Jane Doe” is filing a class action, on behalf of a potential group of “survivors of sex trafficking and child pornography who have been victims [des propriétaires] popular porn sites Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn” since 2011.
When the plaintiff filed her lawsuit in 2021, these three sites belonged to MindGeek, based in Montreal. In March 2023, an Ottawa company, Ethical Capital Partners, acquired MindGeek, before changing its name to Aylo in August 2023.
The company claims to have since improved its procedure for verifying the age and consent of people appearing in the videos it broadcasts (see other text). Its methods “surpass” the regulations of all the countries where the company is present, says its vice-president, Solomon Friedman. Ethical Capital Partners, however, refuses to comment on the request for commission “out of respect for the integrity of the judicial process”.
Confidences from an undercover journalist
The request for letters rogatory arises from a video where an undercover journalist from the American site Sound Investigations collects the secrets of an Aylo employee, Mikaël Farley. He tells her how the company is exploiting a “flaw” (loophole) in the process of verifying the consent and age of people appearing in videos posted online.
SCREENSHOT OF SOUND INVESTIGATIONS VIDEO
Former product manager Mikaël Farley in conversation with the undercover journalist from Sound Investigations, in a video posted online in September 2023
Aylo’s process requires that a user who provides content to the platform must register an identity card there. Except that in thousands of pornographic videos uploaded to the site, people’s faces do not appear.
In the Sound Investigations video uploaded in September 2023, Farley ridicules the idea of determining “who is in a video if the girl doesn’t show her face.”
The California court documents also cite other excerpts from his conversations with the journalist, where he explains that he raised these issues with senior executives at MindGeek, the product manager and the legal director. They would have assured him that the processes in place were “correct” (all good) and told him to “shut up” (shut up) on this subject.
Farley is the only one of the four people targeted by the letter rogatory whose name is not redacted in the California documents. In December, he first agreed to testify voluntarily. But in January, “Mr. Farley’s attorney informed the plaintiff that he no longer wished to provide voluntary testimony,” the documents state.
The American plaintiff’s lawyers therefore wish to force him to testify in court about the comments he made to the journalist.
Joined by The PressMikaël Farley did not elaborate on the reasons which today encourage him to refuse to testify voluntarily.
“I changed my mind because I don’t really want to be in the press,” he says. I want to do my business, do my job in my new job. »
The former product manager had worked at MindGeek since 2013. He left “shortly after the release” of the Sound Investigations video, according to US documents.
Last September, attorneys general from 26 US states wrote to Ethical Capital Partners Vice Chairman Solomon Friedman. They wanted an explanation for Farley’s revelations and wanted to “know what has been done to address this potential ‘loophole’.”
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Lawyer Solomon Friedman, vice-president of Ethical Capital Partners, the company that owns the Pornhub site, during his visit to The Press
“We are concerned that Aylo and its subsidiary Pornhub, and possibly other subsidiaries, are promoting the production and distribution of child pornography because of this vulnerability identified by your employee,” the attorneys general write.
Former CEO Feras Antoon targeted
As for the three senior executives that “Jane Doe” wants to have testify, their names are redacted in the documents, but the context easily allows them to be identified.
The documents notably mention their testimony before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Protection of Personal Information and Ethics. However, this committee of the House of Commons heard three bosses of the company in February 2021: the former CEO Feras Antoon, the former chief operating officer David Tassillo and the former vice-president responsible for video sharing platform Corey Urman.
The plaintiff attempted to force the three executives to testify by sending subpoenas (subpoena) to their American lawyers. They refused, saying they were not mandated to act on behalf of their clients in the United States, the California documents show.
“Jane Doe” particularly wants to know what they knew about child pornography prevention measures in the company.
She also wants to see them testify about their role in the decision not to collaborate before 2020 with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This American organization is dedicated to searching for missing children and combating the sexual exploitation of minors.
Additionally, the plaintiff has questions about the circumstances surrounding the sale of MindGeek in March 2023.
The company then announced that Ethical Capital Partners was buying all the shares held by Feras Antoon and David Tassillo.
According to the documents, “Jane Doe” lawyers, however, want to know if they retained shares in the company, “directly or indirectly”, or if they entered into any “compensation agreement” in connection with the sale. of their actions.
The Press was unable to reach Antoon and Tassillo. On the phone, former Vice President Corey Urman simply said he “didn’t really want to comment” before hanging up.