According to The Daily Dot, PornHub is making it easier to get revenge porn removed from its site. It's a progressive move "that aims to empower people who believe they have been victims of revenge porn." Rather than the old process of emailing and describing the situation, the new method is more straightforward. There is a (NSFW) form now available on the site, theoretically saving a victim of revenge porn from having to go through further trauma. Corey Price, vice president at PornHub, told The Verge that "being a revenge porn victim is embarrassing enough as it is. We would rather not make the reporting process equally awkward."
It's a laudable move, and many have praised PornHub for being the first major site with this sort of development. But both The Verge and The Daily Dot rightly highlighted criticisms that, while this is forward-thinking, it may not be enough to help victims of revenge porn after the fact. Especially on sites like PornHub, which include both professional and amateur pornography, it can be too easy to upload revenge porn in the first place. And while smoother options for removal are helpful and hopefully empowering, many would argue that a lot of damage is already done. PornHub has stressed that it does its own policing against revenge porn in addition to the removal form, but the problem exists all over the Internet.
It's a hard area to control, and it's one that law is only starting to catch up with. Here's what you need to know about revenge porn.
1. Only Some States Have Revenge Porn Laws On The Books
It's a new area of law, and basically w're still catching up. Twenty-seven states have revenge porn laws at the moment, although there are more in progress.
2. The First Conviction Of Someone Running A Revenge Porn Site Happened Earlier This Year
Kevin Bollaert ran the site YouGotPosted, as well as a sister site through which victims of the first site could pay to get their images taken down. This led to him being convicted on 27 counts of identity theft and extortion. That there are entire sites devoted to revenge porn and extorting the victims highlights what a widespread problem this is.
3. Last Month, The First Woman In The UK Was Convicted Of Revenge Porn
Paige Mitchell was convicted after uploading images of her girlfriend to Facebook as the result of a fight. Although she was given a six-week suspended sentence, this case was welcomed as a reminder that anyone can be a victim or a perpetrator of revenge porn, and that all instances should be taken seriously by the legal system.
4. Just Taking It Down Doesn't Mean It's Gone
While it's great to try to get revenge porn down swiftly, the reason many people think porn sites need to go further is ... it's the Internet. And we all know that just because something is removed doesn't mean it's gone. Law professor and activist Mary Anne Franks applauded the open condemnation of revenge porn by PornHub, but told The Verge that if "Pornhub or any other site or platform featuring adult content really wants to launch a ‘preemptive strike' ... against non-consensual pornography, they should be focusing on truly preemptive measures, not after-the-fact procedures."
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