Original Article On: Mike South
Someone sent this to us anonymously. They said that they got it from a well-known porn producer. He wanted us to post it because it’s potentially seriously damaging to the adult industry, and nobody is holding XVideos accountable. The argument is that Pornhub has had to implement over-the-top ID verification for their uploaders, but xvideos has not. xvideos also owns BangBros and Penthouse.
Here is the story that was sent to us.
Let’s talk about the real villain, past and present, that continues all of the bad practices that PornHub was guilty of before its massive reforms: XVideos (part of the WGCZ Holdings network of properties).
“In the aftermath of the news of Pornhub deleting videos from the website, XVideos began trending on Twitter with thousands tweeting about their decision to migrate to the pornographic website registered to the Czech company WGCZ Holding. But is XVideos better? Undoubtedly, no. The NYT piece had predicted this. Kristof had noted, “Indeed, a rival of Pornhub, XVideos, which arguably has even fewer scruples, may attract more visitors.”
A pornographic video sharing and viewing website, XVideos was founded in Paris in 2007 by French owner Stephane Michael Pacaud. Currently registered to the Czech company WGCZ Holding, it was ranked as the 7th most visited website in the world. The company also owns Bang Bros, DDF Network, Penthouse magazine, Private Media Group, Erogames and has a controlling interest in the productions gathered under the Legal Porno brand.”
So, as of today on similarweb.com, we see:
Pornhub:
Global Rank #11
Total Visits 2.5 Billion
XVideos:
Global Rank: #7
Total Visits 2.9 Billion
XNXX (part of their network):
Global Rank #10
Total Visits 2.4 Billion
Video + XNXX Combined:
Total Visits: 5.3 Billion
As a little test, today, I went to Xvideos and set up an untraceable fake user account using an encrypted protonmail.com account. I set up a new anonymous user account with no verification of any kind. It took about 45 seconds.
I then uploaded a 12-minute teen Asian video with no verification of any kind. My video was live in 12 minutes on their entire videos/xnxx network.
Although the video I uploaded was old Japanese porn content I licensed 15 years ago, it literally could have been 15-year-old Japanese models, sex-trafficked girls in Thailand, revenge porn, or just plain old stolen content from a legitimate studio or producer.
Here is the video, now live on their entire network with absolutely no safety controls or any way to find out who uploaded it: https://www.xvideos.com/video72801259/hot_asian_girls
So, you asked what the difference is between Pornhub and XVideos.
PornHub has a bulletproof user verification process micromanaged by their Trust and Safety division. It takes at least a week and multiple document challenges for new users to be able to upload literally anything.
XVideos has literally NONE of this, as you can see from my experiment above.
Xvideos has been sued for child porn.
Dani Pinter, senior legal counsel of the center, said XVideos “not only violated the law by hosting Jane Doe’s child sexual abuse material, but it also profited from her abuse given that each image and video of her was monetized. This cannot be allowed to stand and remain unchallenged. Victims of childhood sexual abuse such as Jane Doe unequivocally deserve justice.”
However, in January of this year, the court sided with the parent company of XVideos, stating that they can’t be sued in the United States because they are not a US company.
This is despite the fact that they run several well-known adult companies, including BangBros and Penthouse, both of which operate in the United States.
The plaintiffs in the case argued that XVideos does business in the US, targets US consumers, and signs US contracts, so they should be held accountable to the US courts and laws. But the judge ruled and said they didn’t agree.
So the question remains, will their flagrant disregard for the law cause more harm in the US?
