Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Jul 26, 2025

Pornhub: Judge rules Visa can be sued in abuse claim

Pornhub: Judge rules Visa can be sued in abuse claim

An abuse survivor can sue Visa over videos of her posted to Pornhub, a US court has ruled.

Serena Fleites was 13 in 2014 when, it is alleged, a boyfriend pressured her into making an explicit video which he posted to Pornhub.

Ms Fleites alleges that Visa, by processing revenue from ads, conspired with Pornhub's parent firm MindGeek to make money from videos of her abuse.

Visa had sought to be removed from the case.

Ms Fleites' story has featured in the New York Times article The Children of Pornhub - an article which prompted MindGeek to delete millions of videos and make significant changes to its policies and practice.

Her allegations are summarised in the pre-trial ruling of the Central District Court of California.


Millions of views


The initial explicit video, posted to Pornhub without her knowledge or consent, had 400,000 views by the time she discovered it, Ms Fleites says.

She alleges that after becoming aware of the video, she contacted Mindgeek pretending to be her mother "to inform it that the video qualified as child pornography". A few weeks later it was removed

But the video was downloaded by users and re-uploaded several times, with one of the re-uploads viewed 2.7 million times, she argues.

MindGeek earned advertisement revenue from these re-uploads, it is alleged.

Ms Fleites says her life had "spiralled out of control" - there were several failed suicide attempts and family relationships deteriorated - then while living at a friend's house, an older man introduced her to heroin.

To fund her addiction, while still a child, she created further explicit videos at this man's behest, some of which were uploaded to Pornhub.

"While MindGeek profited from the child porn featuring Plaintiff, Plaintiff was intermittently homeless or living in her car, addicted to heroin, depressed and suicidal, and without the support of her family," Judge Cormac J. Carney's summary of her allegations says.

MindGeek told the BBC that at this point in the case, the court has not yet ruled on the truth of the allegations, and is required to assume all of the plaintiff's allegations are true and accurate.

"When the court can actually consider the facts, we are confident the plaintiff's claims will be dismissed for lack of merit," the company said.


'The tools to complete the crime'


The Judge ruled that, at the current stage of proceedings, "the Court can infer a strong possibility that Visa's network was involved in at least some advertisement transactions relating directly to Plaintiff's videos".

But Visa argued that the "allegation that Visa recognized MindGeek as an authorized merchant and processed payment to its websites does not suggest that Visa agreed to participate in sex trafficking of any kind".

It also argued, according to the judge's account of its position, that a commercial relationship alone does not establish a conspiracy.

But Judge Carney said that, again at this stage of proceedings, "the Court can comfortably infer that Visa intended to help MindGeek monetize child porn from the very fact that Visa continued to provide MindGeek the means to do so and knew MindGeek was indeed doing so.

"Put yet another way, Visa is not alleged to have simply created an incentive to commit a crime, it is alleged to have knowingly provided the tool used to complete a crime".

A spokesperson for Visa told the BBC that it condemned sex trafficking, sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse material.

"This pre-trial ruling is disappointing and mischaracterizes Visa's role and its policies and practices. Visa will not tolerate the use of our network for illegal activity. We continue to believe that Visa is an improper defendant in this case."


Zero tolerance


Last month MindGeek's chief executive officer and chief operating officer resigned.

The senior departures followed further negative press in an article in the magazine the New Yorker, examining among other things the company's moderation policies.

Mindgeek told the BBC that it has:

*  zero tolerance for the posting of illegal content on its platforms

*  banned uploads from anyone who has not submitted government-issued ID that passes third-party verification

*  eliminated the ability to download free content

*  integrated several technological platform and content moderation tools

*  instituted digital fingerprinting of all videos found to be in violation of our Non-Consensual Content and CSAM Policies to help protect against removed videos being reposted

*  expanded its moderation workforce and processes

The company also said that any insinuation that it does not take the elimination of illegal material seriously is "categorically false".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×