Shut It Down

“Serena Fleites was just 14 when an older boy at her school manipulated her into sharing nude videos with him. He sent the videos to other boys. Someone uploaded them to the pornography ‘tube’ site Pornhub. Fleites’ life became a living nightmare as the videos were repeatedly downloaded and re-uploaded, with Pornhub forcing her through the same laborious process every time before taking it down, all while monetising her images.

Fleites’ mental health plummeted. She dropped out of school and ended up addicted to drugs. Now sober, in 2021 Fleites became the lead plaintiff in a mass lawsuit against Mindgeek (now ‘Aylo’), Pornhub’s parent company. Along with 33 other Jane Does, Fleites alleges that MindGeek knowingly profited from videos depicting rape, child sexual exploitation, revenge porn, trafficking, and other nonconsensual sexual content.”