Canadian company Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) has acquired Mindgeek, the parent company of popular porn portal, Pornhub. No details have been released regarding the purchase price. Mindgeek manages a wide range of adult entertainment sites including YouPorn, Redtube, Brazzers, Men.com, Sean Cody, and Trans Angels. ECP sees the acquisition as an opportunity to invest in an innovative and ethical company that is paving the way in developing industries. The Canadian investment firm plans to help Mindgeek become the leading provider in the fight against illegal content online, as Visa and Mastercard had previously voiced concerns about content on Mindgeek pages.
In 2022, Visa and Mastercard stopped payments to Mindgeek’s advertising subsidiary Trafficjunky due to concerns around illegal content. Visa was a party to a lawsuit filed by a woman whose former boyfriend uploaded a video to Pornhub featuring her engaging in sexual activity when she was underage. Following reports of child sexual abuse content on Pornhub in 2020, Visa and Mastercard temporarily ceased all business relationships with the porn portal. In response, Pornhub blocked almost 9 million videos from the site. Mindgeek has also faced various lawsuits over non-consensual sex videos uploaded to its sites.
Despite these issues, Mindgeek emphasizes its zero-tolerance policy for illegal content on its websites. The company aims to lead the fight against illegal content and promote responsible consumption of adult entertainment.
