Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse is calling on the Department of Justice to investigate Pornhub.
Sasse wrote to Attorney General William Barr in a Monday letter that asks for a federal investigation into Pornhub and Pornhub’s owner, MindGeek, for their alleged involvement in videos of women and children being raped and exploited.
“In several notable incidents over the past year, Pornhub made content available worldwide showing women and girls that were victims of trafficking being raped and exploited,” Sasse wrote.
The Nebraska senator warned that Pornhub’s “incredible reach has a much darker side than the image of harmless fun that it tries to project,” citing an incident where Florida police arrested a man accused of trafficking a 15-year-old girl for over a year who had been “subjected to horrific abuse,” including rape and forced abortion. Her trafficker had uploaded more than 60 videos of her rapes to websites, including Pornhub, Sasse noted.
“Pornhub must not escape scrutiny,” the senator added. “I therefore request that the Department open an investigation into Pornhub and its parent entity MindGeek Holding SARL for their involvement in this disturbing pipeline of exploiting children and other victims and survivors of sex trafficking.”
News of Sasse’s letter came a day after Pornhub struck back at a petition to “Shut Down Pornhub,” demanding that the pornography platform be held accountable after being accused of allowing sex-trafficking and child rape films as well as failing to verify the age and consent of those depicted in pornography.
Director of Abolition for Exodus Cry Laila Mickelwait’s Change.org petition calls for the government to “Shut Down Pornhub and Hold Its Executives Accountable for Aiding Trafficking.” The petition garnered more than 420,000 signatures as of press time.
Pornhub did not yet respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
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