Solomon Friedman says that conversations about business can’t be “one-sided.
The Ottawa private equity firm that bought the owner of the adult entertainment website Pornhub says it wants to bring the industry into the 21st century by increasing transparency and giving performers and content creators more of a voice.
One of the top-15 most frequented websitesby some countsThere have been some problems with Pornhub, including claims that its parent company, Mindgeek, shared and made money off of videos posted there without permission.
“The internet as a whole faces problems with content,” said Solomon Friedman, a lawyer and partner at Ethical Capital Partners, which said on Thursday that it had bought the company.
Friedman said that other big websites are also having trouble figuring out how to keep an eye on the content people upload, and the Ottawa company was impressed with how seriously MindGeek was taking the problem.
“Our thorough review showed us how seriously they take that,” said Friedman. “We were impressed by the tools they’ve made to keep that platform safe and to verify the identity of every single person who uploads to their platform.”
“No other platform, adult or otherwise, does that,” she said.
He said that no content can be put on Pornhub without first being checked by both automated tools and real people.
Visa and Mastercard stopped letting people use their cards on the site in 2020 because they were worried that it made it easier for people to see sexually exploitative content.
But Friedman said he hopes MindGeek will be a leader in trust and safety, moderation, and data privacy outside of the adult entertainment industry, and that its tools for verifying content can be used elsewhere on the internet.
“Public, clear, and obvious ownership.
Friedman said that the company wants to do more to include content creators and sex workers in talks about the industry and to bring regulators and lawmakers directly into contact with them.
He also said that Ethical Capital Partners plans to help set up talks with other partners, such as groups that help victims, senior law enforcement officials, and non-governmental organizations.
Friedman said, “You can’t have this conversation if it’s only one way.” “This business is also too important. Too many people depend on it for their living.
“Having ownership that is public, clear, and easy to see is a big step forward.”
Jenn Clamen, who is the national coordinator of the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, said that the problems that have happened in the past at Pornhub have been used to hurt the whole industry.
Clamen told CBC, “All we can hope is that [Ethical Capital Partners] cares about working conditions.”
“And that they will be interested in making content with workers, focusing on ethical content and asking workers what that means.”
Workers face problems with discrimination and mone
A few months ago, Maggie MacDonald, who is working on her PhD in the faculty of information at the University of Toronto and studies porn platforms, was asked to join the firm’s advisory board.
She said it was the first time a private sector pitch had made an impression on her. Ethical Capital Partners showed her that they care about the workers in the pornography industry.
“They are often cheated out of money, and they are treated unfairly,” she said.
“The most impressive thing I saw in [the company’s] early conversations with me was that they cared a lot about engaging and putting the workers at the center, which I had never seen before.”