Pornhub fails a simple test
With the consent and cooperation of several women who were featured in Girls Do Porn videos, Motherboard tested Pornhub's content removal and video fingerprinting systems using editing techniques common in porn regular users upload to Pornhub. We found that while Pornhub removed videos when provided with specific links, the video fingerprinting method that Pornhub calls "state-of-the-art" and relies on to automatically moderate its platform can be easily circumvented, allowing anyone to upload Girls Do Porn videos or other non-consensual videos."We strongly condemn non-consensual content, including revenge porn. Content that is uploaded to Pornhub that directly violates our Terms of Service is removed as soon as we are made aware of it and this includes non-consensual content. With regards to other unauthorized Girls Do Porn videos, Pornhub takes a number of actions to protect our community, and to keep content that violates our policies off of our platform. We use a state-of-the-art third party digital fingerprinting software, which scans any new uploads for potential matches to unauthorized material and makes sure the original video doesn’t go back up on the platform. Anyone who digitally fingerprints their content is then protected from having their video uploaded by unauthorized parties. It is completely free and strongly encouraged to fingerprint content."
To fingerprint a video, victims have to email Vobile, the company Pornhub contracts, to provide the service. After Vobile responds to a request confirming it has fingerprinted the video, the victim then has to flag the video to Pornhub by filling out a short form on the site. Once the videos are removed, it should be theoretically impossible to post the same video again to Pornhub.To test Pornhub's system, Motherboard first downloaded a Girls Do Porn video from Pornhub. Then, we asked the woman in that video to email Vobile for fingerprinting, and then flag the video to Pornhub. Vobile confirmed the video was fingerprinted and Pornhub removed the specific video we flagged. After that video was removed, we tried to upload the exact same file to Pornhub. That identical video was seemingly automatically removed within an hour. A shorter portion of the same video file we uploaded was also seemingly automatically removed within an hour."It’s not really 'doing the right thing' when you only act when it is in your self-interest."
However, a slight edit of the same Girls Do Porn video circumvented Pornhub's fingerprinting method. The specific video we flagged for Pornhub was a 5 minute portion cut from the original Girls Do Porn episode. Our edit took a 30 second portion from the same Girls Do Porn episode, but it was sourced from a different video hosted on another Pornhub site. This 30 second portion featured similar shots to the fingerprinted video. We successfully uploaded this video to Pornhub, where it was available for anyone to find and view for 24 hours, before we removed it ourselves. During this time, it also would have been easy to find via Pornhub's search or tagging system if we labeled the video clearly as a Girls Do Porn video.
"A pervasive lack of transparency"
"What, exactly, is the incentive for a site like Pornhub to remove one of their most popular products?"
"We've suggested that it's not hard to run searches and find other videos—maybe they're not uploaded by Girls Do Porn, but they are overtly Girls Do Porn," Van Dorn said. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to track these things down. It feels like they could be a little more proactive and do that on their own."Do you work at Mindgeek, or have firsthand knowledge of how moderation works within the Pornhub Network? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, contact Samantha Cole securely on Signal at +16469261726, direct message on Twitter, or by email at samantha.cole@vice.com or samleecole@protonmail.ch.