One Woman’s War on P*rnhub | Laila Mickelwait | EP 503

Coming up (0s)

• A study published in the British Journal of Criminology analyzed the homepages of adult content websites, including PornHub, and found that users are exposed to 50 autoplay videos upon entering the site (8s).
• Upon examining these videos, the study discovered that one in eight of the autoplay videos on PornHub's homepage displayed sexual violence, including non-consensual content (13s).
• The prevalence of non-consensual and violent content on PornHub's homepage is considered alarming and reflective of the current reality (26s).

Intro (28s)

• Laila Mickelwait is a brave individual who has been waging a one-woman war against the purveyors of online porn, particularly at the site known as PornHub, and has gained plenty of allies in the process (57s).
• The discussion revolves around Laila's effective campaign against PornHub, which has been ongoing for about four years, and her efforts to raise awareness about the rampant spread of pornography that may be destroying culture (1m33s).
• The conversation also touches on the facilitation of behavior by psychopathic criminals who generate and distribute pornographic content, which is considered a civilization-threatening occurrence (2m0s).
• Laila's personal experiences and interests are also explored, including her initial attraction to the Hollywood fame machine and her subsequent realization of its soul-devouring shallowness and pursuit of narcissistic self-gratification (2m29s).
• The discussion is a mix of sociological, technological, and personal exploration, with the goal of understanding the impact of pornography on culture and society (1m45s).
• The conversation was recorded live in Fairview, Alberta, and is described as a "Voyage to the Heart of Darkness" (2m58s).

Taking on P*rnhub, “It’s actually a crime scene” (3m3s)

• Laila Mickelwait has been combating the injustice of sex trafficking for 18 years and began investigating the intersection between the big porn industry and sex trafficking about 10 years ago (3m41s).
• MindGeek, a Canadian company, dominates the global porn industry, owning a virtual monopoly, and its most popular porn site is Pornhub (4m5s).
• In 2020, Pornhub was the largest and most popular porn site in the world, with 170 million visits per day, 62 billion visits that year, and 6.8 million videos uploaded to the site (5m7s).
• Pornhub was named the third most influential tech company on global society by researchers in 2020, just behind Facebook and Google, and the fifth most trafficked website in the world (5m30s).
• MindGeek owns an estimated 80% of the world's most popular porn sites and brands, including most of the world's most popular tube sites (6m2s).
• Tube sites, such as Pornhub, are user-generated content platforms where anyone can become a pornographer and upload videos (6m13s).
• Laila Mickelwait began investigating Pornhub after hearing concerning stories in the media and an investigation by the London Sunday Times found dozens of illegal videos on the site, including child sexual abuse (6m49s).
• The investigation found over a hundred instances of category A level child sexual abuse, which is the most severe level of abuse, and included videos of children as young as three years old (7m17s).
• A woman was thinking about sadistic acts of harm to children on a porn site, which led her to question the vetting process of the content, and she decided to test the upload system herself to see how easy it would be to upload content to the site (7m28s).
• She found out that it took under 10 minutes for her test video to go live on the site, which made her realize that the site was infested with videos of real sexual crime, and that PornHub was not a porn site, but a crime scene (8m24s).
• The woman realized that there is a difference between legal material and content that features children, non-consenting adults, or non-consensually uploaded videos, which is a spectrum of abuse (8m48s).
• PornHub's business model was selling ad impressions, generating 4.6 billion impressions every day, and hundreds of millions of dollars a year for its parent company, MindGeek (9m9s).
• The woman started a petition to shut down PornHub and hold its executives accountable, which gained 2.3 million signatures from every country in the world, and victims, whistleblowers, and insiders came forward to share their stories (9m49s).
• The petition and the stories shared by victims and insiders revealed that the business model of free user-generated porn was the reason why abusive content was being uploaded to the site (10m10s).
• The woman's experience with the issue led her to understand the importance of seeking wisdom and transformation, and she referenced biblical texts and the idea of seeking first the kingdom and righteousness (10m34s).
• The conversation also touched on the idea that Christianity has been supplanted by other ideologies, and the importance of opening up to stories and ideas, even in the face of doubts and apprehensions (11m10s).
• The concept of the Covenant and prophecy fulfillment is discussed in relation to the importance of balancing love and wisdom, as having one without the other can lead to going radically wrong (11m27s).
• The power of love is emphasized, despite sounding cliché, and is considered essential for the task at hand (11m36s).
• The current time is described as peculiar, and the text being discussed is also considered peculiar, raising concerns about being up to the task (11m50s).
• A question is posed about why there is not more of something, although the specific topic is not specified in this segment (11m59s).

How novelty increases dopaminergic release, the arc of perversion (12m1s)

• The behavior of serial sexual killers tends to accelerate over time due to the intrinsically rewarding nature of sex, which can be heightened by novelty, leading to a dopaminergic kick (12m33s).
• This acceleration is driven by the desire to stay on the "novelty edge" to maximize gratification, and there is evidence that the same phenomenon applies to online pornography use, where users may progress from relatively vanilla displays to more graphic, kinky, and violent content (13m28s).
• This cultural trend can be seen in the history of pornography, with the borders of what is considered acceptable being pushed bit by bit, starting with the banning of novels like Lady Chatterley's Lover in the 1920s (14m10s).
• The victory of the novel's author in having the ban overturned marked the entry point of pornography into mainstream culture, according to British essayist Theodore Dalrymple (14m40s).
• The progression of pornography in popular culture can be seen in the evolution of magazines like Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler, which increasingly pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable (15m5s).
• The internet has further facilitated the expansion of pornography, with a significant portion of online traffic being driven by the desire for sexually graphic images, and it is estimated that 30-40% of internet traffic is pornographic (16m42s).
• The development of the internet was motivated in part by the desire of isolated and socially incompetent men to share sexually graphic images, and the internet has enabled the proliferation of criminal activity, making it difficult to hold people accountable (16m28s).
• The cultural trend of chasing the "novelty edge" is driven by narcissistic, psychopathic, and sadistic individuals who cannot be held accountable, leading to a negative impact on society (17m11s).

How the homepage indoctrinates you (17m20s)

• Free porn tube sites, such as Pornhub and x videos, do not have age restrictions, allowing anyone, including seven-year-olds, to access their content without an 18+ clickthrough button (17m39s).
• The homepages of these sites display user-generated videos that autoplay when scrolled over, with about 50 videos visible on Pornhub's homepage (18m9s).
• A study published in the British Journal of Criminology found that one in eight of the videos on Pornhub's homepage displayed sexual violence, including non-consent and incest (18m17s).
• Exposure to violent content can desensitize individuals, reducing their anxiety and revulsion towards such acts, which can have severe consequences, especially for young people (19m38s).
• The voluntary exposure to violent content can decrease anxiety levels and make individuals braver, but in the context of sexual violence, it can lead to a reduction in revulsion and potentially harm individuals (19m48s).
• Men are more likely to use these sites due to their higher sensitivity to visual stimuli compared to women (20m12s).
• The content on these sites is not comparable to traditional adult content, such as Playboy, but rather features homemade and user-generated videos that often display violent and non-consensual acts (17m54s).

Young men are being ruined by this (20m14s)

• Literary pornography is increasingly being consumed by both boys and girls at very young ages, with curiosity driving this trend (20m36s).
• A book titled "A Billion Wicked Thoughts" by Google Engineers explores the use of sex differences in the consumption of pornography and is considered a valuable resource for understanding this topic (20m40s).
• The widespread availability of online pornography has created a situation where a typical 13-year-old boy can see more nude women than any man in history, which is a powerful and potentially irresistible stimulus (20m59s).
• The impact of this exposure on relationships between young men and women is not fully understood, but there is evidence of increasing rates of virginity and a fragmenting relationship scene in countries like Japan and South Korea (21m19s).
• In Japan, approximately 30% of young people under 30 have never had any sexual encounter, and the birth rate has plummeted, although the connection between this and online pornography is unclear (21m37s).
• The effect of online pornography on young people's sexual preferences is also not well understood, and it is uncertain how exposure to this content trains their preferences (22m7s).
• The technology of online pornography is considered "insanely powerful" and potentially cataclysmic, with significant implications for society (22m18s).

Women-machine hybrids: how technology and monetization creates a nightmare (22m23s)

• The concept of women participating in online platforms like PornHub can be misleading, as they are not just women, but rather women-machine hybrids, due to the technological capabilities that allow them to be in multiple places at once (22m23s).
• This idea also applies to sites like Only Fans, where women are transformed into images that can be propagated everywhere, representing a significant technological revolution (22m50s).
• The ability to monetize one's beauty on these platforms can be tempting, especially for young women, as a small proportion of them can make a substantial amount of money in a way that appears easy and draws a lot of attention (23m3s).
• This can be particularly appealing to individuals with a narcissistic personality or those who are isolated and lonely, as it provides a means to gain attention (23m18s).
• The combination of technology and monetization on these platforms creates a problematic situation that can have negative consequences (23m25s).

Accountability — they refuse to properly moderate adult content (23m29s)

• The focus of the work is on underage victims, victims of rape, sex trafficking, and non-consensual image abuse that are proliferating on sites like PornHub, which have made intentional policy decisions to distribute such content (23m49s).
• PornHub owns most of the world's most popular tube sites and has a significant number of videos uploaded to it every year, but it only hired 30 moderators to review the content, with 10 moderators working at a time (24m47s).
• These moderators were reprimanded if they viewed less than 700 videos per eight-hour shift, and some were watching up to 2,000 videos per eight-hour shift, often with the sound off, without verifying ID or age, and playing a guessing game with real people's lives (24m58s).
• This lack of moderation is not unique to PornHub, as all of the porn tube sites had a similar approach, with only 10 moderators, compared to Facebook's 15,000 moderators (25m26s).
• The moderators' job was to allow as much content to go through as possible, as content is king for the porn tube sites, which need massive amounts of content to drive Google searches, traffic, and sell advertising (25m52s).
• The company's intentional decision to prioritize content over moderation has led to the proliferation of criminal content, including crime scenes, non-consenting adults, and victims of sex trafficking and abuse (23m42s).

Criminal activity in pay-to-download content (26m9s)

• The porn industry's business model is largely based on premium subscriptions, allowing users to pay for exclusive content, including pay-to-download material, which was a small portion of the content on PornHub (26m28s).
• An example of a victim in pay-to-download content is a 12-year-old boy from Alabama who was drugged, overpowered, and raped in 23 videos by Rocky Shay Franklin, which were sold on PornHub through a profit-sharing relationship (26m50s).
• Despite multiple requests from the police to remove the videos, they remained on the site for seven months, garnering hundreds of thousands of views, and were intentionally made downloadable by PornHub (27m15s).
• The intentional download button on every piece of content on PornHub allowed users to possess and transfer the content, including illegal and criminal material, onto their devices (27m24s).
• This led to the "immortalization of trauma" for victims, where their experiences were filmed, uploaded, monetized, and globally distributed, causing long-lasting harm (27m56s).
• Victims had to beg PornHub to remove their videos, and even then, they were often hassled and required to prove they were underage or victims, with some emails showing the begging and pleading from victims (28m26s).
• PornHub had a policy requiring users to flag a video 15 times before it would be reviewed, and with only one employee reviewing videos five days a week, there was a backlog of 76,000 flagged videos (29m9s).
• This led to a situation where victims' videos might not be reviewed or removed, and even if they were, they could be re-uploaded again, causing further harm and leading some victims to become suicidal (29m35s).
• The stakes are high for victims, with surveys showing that 50% of victims of non-consensual sexual image distribution have suicidal ideations, and many consider or attempt suicide (29m54s).

Forced to remove 91% of their content (30m27s)

• A significant effort has been made to hold PornHub accountable, resulting in the removal of 91% of their content, from 56 million pieces down to 5.2 million, thanks to the help of many people (30m33s).
• The credit card companies, including Visa and Mastercard, have cut ties with PornHub after a multi-year battle, which was a crucial step in preventing the monetization of illegal content, including trafficking and child sexual abuse (30m55s).
• The Trafficking Hub movement, consisting of 600 organizations, lawyers, journalists, and survivors, has played a significant role in bringing attention to the issue and pushing for change (31m16s).
• The battle to get credit card companies on board involved providing evidence of their involvement in enabling the monetization of illegal content, with some conversations recounted in the book "Takedown" (31m37s).
• A federal judge in California has stated that Visa gave PornHub the tools to complete the crime of knowingly benefiting from child trafficking, and Visa is currently being sued by survivors for their relationship with PornHub (32m3s).
• An explosive article by Nicholas Kristoff in The New York Times in 2020 helped increase pressure on credit card companies to cut ties with PornHub, but it took another two-year battle to finally get them to do so (32m12s).
• Bill Ackman was a significant help in the effort, using his influence to contact the CEO of MasterCard and push for change, and even appearing on CNBC's Squawkbox to call out Al Kelly, the CEO of Visa (32m51s).

Why the credit card companies participated — and how they were forced to stop (33m20s)

• Credit card companies, including Visa, initially claimed to be concerned about human trafficking but did nothing to stop it, despite evidence of illegal and non-consensual material on PornHub, and instead asked for more information to be sent to them, citing that they are not in the business of policing legal and consensual material (33m55s).
• Visa sent a letter stating they wouldn't take action, but they are currently being sued by dozens of child victims in California, and they lost their motion to dismiss the case in 2022 (34m28s).
• The combination of Visa losing their motion to dismiss, public pressure, and litigation ultimately forced Visa to announce that they would cut off PornHub, followed by MasterCard and Discover (34m49s).
• PornHub is now being funded through cryptocurrency and bank wires (34m58s).
• Victims are holding PornHub accountable by suing them, with almost 300 victims in 25 lawsuits across the US, Canada, and the UK, including multiple class-action lawsuits on behalf of tens of thousands of child victims (35m12s).
• The work of organizations and others has led to financial accountability, radically decreasing the number of files PornHub can utilize and making it more difficult for them to monetize their content, with a 90% decrease in files (35m42s).
• Some US states have instituted more rigorous age check rules, which PornHub has objected to, but the money is still pouring in, and the only way to stop this is to make the risk too high by increasing it sufficiently and eliminating the benefit (36m21s).

“The Zuckerberg of p*rn”: naming the executives and secret shareholders (36m32s)

• The former owner of PornHub, referred to as the "Zuckerberg of porn," came forward to expose the company's secret shareholders, revealing the name of the man he sold the company to, Bernd Bergm, an Austrian living in London and Hong Kong (38m6s).
• Bergm is being sued personally, along with the CEO and COO of PornHub, who are also minority shareholders, as a result of being "unmasked" (38m30s).
• The executives behind PornHub have not been criminally charged yet, but they should be, considering the severity of the crimes committed, including the transmission and monetization of child pornography and child sexual abuse material (38m52s).
• In Canada, section 6 31.1 of the criminal code makes it illegal to transmit, possess, advertise, or monetize child pornography and child sexual abuse material, carrying serious sentences, but this law is not being enforced (39m0s).
• The former owner of PornHub was instrumental in creating the company's image as a mainstream and legitimate brand, spending millions of dollars on promotional campaigns and philanthropic efforts, such as "PornHub Cares" (37m38s).
• A journalist from the UK investigated and found Bergm, leading to him being sued personally, and the company's executives being held accountable for their actions (38m19s).

Abigail Shrier, Michael Shellenberger: getting past disbelief (40m4s)

• Abigail Shrier, who wrote the book "Irreversible Damage," and Michael Shellenberger, a US journalist, were guests on a podcast discussing the dark side of the internet and the effects of pornography on society (40m5s).
• Shellenberger broke the story on X, exposing a group for their wrongdoings, and later discussed the barbaric and brutal nature of certain surgeries, comparing them to the atrocities committed in Unit 731 in China and the death camps in Germany (40m22s).
• Shellenberger initially couldn't believe the details of the story, highlighting the tendency for people to avoid confronting uncomfortable truths, especially when it comes to the widespread consumption of sadistic and hedonistic pornography (40m30s).
• The massive problem of internet traffic being dominated by pornography is often overlooked, with people turning a blind eye to the harm it causes to children and victims of exploitation (41m17s).
• Moral complacency also plays a role, as many people are reluctant to examine their own behavior and the widespread use of pornography (41m57s).
• The issue of pornography is not likely to be addressed voluntarily, but rather will require force and concerted effort, as seen in the battle against credit card companies and the takedown of content on PornHub (42m19s).
• The anonymity of the internet allows people to engage in pathological behavior without consequences, contributing to the destructive potential of the technological revolution (42m42s).
• The combination of these factors suggests that the technological revolution may have a civilization-destroying element, with a percentage of the population engaging in destructive behavior (42m58s).

Psychopathic pathology and invisibility online (43m2s)

• Approximately 5% of people worldwide fall into the psychopathic sadistic histrionic category, which can be thought of as an evolutionary niche where exploitative individuals can find victims and propagate themselves with some degree of effectiveness (43m6s).
• These individuals are classically without conscience and can be described as temperamentally aggressive people who haven't progressed beyond the moral standards of a 2-year-old (43m42s).
• The anonymity of the internet and its international nature make it nearly impossible to hold psychopathic sadists accountable for their actions, as they are often monetized and promoted instead (44m5s).
• A key definition of sadism is the delight in unnecessary suffering of others, and these individuals are not being held to account for their actions (44m17s).
• One potential solution to this issue is verification, which involves removing anonymity from those who upload content and those who appear in videos (44m33s).
• This approach could help prevent psychopathic sadists from exploiting and harming others online (44m36s).

Anonymity’s pros and major cons (44m48s)

• The issue of online anonymity has been criticized due to the presence of individuals with dark tetrad traits, such as psychopathy, narcissism, and sadism, who often engage in trolling behavior while hiding behind anonymity (44m49s).
• The argument that anonymity is necessary for whistleblowers is countered by the fact that for every one anonymous whistleblower, there are many more pathological and sadistic individuals using anonymity for malicious purposes (45m32s).
• Verifying one's ID to reduce anonymity has been proposed, but this method is not foolproof, as anyone with basic photo editing skills can create a fake ID (45m52s).
• The idea of a reliable digital ID is also problematic, as seen in China, where digital ID has contributed to a totalitarian state with excessive surveillance (46m12s).
• The implementation of digital ID has raised concerns about the potential for a totalitarian state, symbolized by the all-seeing eye, which is a characteristic of such regimes (46m23s).
• The problem of balancing anonymity with accountability is complex, and the proposed solution of verification may not be effective in addressing the issue, particularly in the context of online platforms such as porn sites (46m40s).

Proposing ID and age verification for those who upload and for those in adult content (46m45s)

• Proposing ID and age verification for those who upload and for those in adult content is a necessary step to prevent the spread of criminal content, including videos of children and underage teens, on platforms like Pornhub. (46m45s)
• The technology to verify an ID and match it with a face using a biometric scan is already available, and companies like Yoti have developed solutions that can be used for this purpose. (46m51s)
• The proposed verification process would involve uploading an ID, going through a biometric scan, and then deleting the information immediately once the age is verified. (47m8s)
• This process would also help address some of the consent issues, as individuals would have to present their ID and go through the verification process. (47m16s)
• The idea of verifying the age of those in adult content is not new, as the US has had a law called USC 2257 since 1988, which requires the traditional brick-and-mortar porn industry to verify the age of individuals in pornographic videos. (47m39s)
• The traditional porn industry has complied with this requirement, but the law has not been applied to the online porn industry, despite the availability of technology and legal solutions. (48m7s)
• The main obstacle to implementing age verification is the resistance from companies that do not want to put restrictions on uploading content, as it may lead to less content and less revenue. (48m43s)
• Government legislation is necessary to enforce age verification, as companies are not willing to take action on their own. (49m1s)

Why Laila took on the p*rn industry, “pain with a purpose” (49m6s)

• Laila Mickelwait, 41, has been working on the problem of child trafficking and sex trafficking for 15 years, starting when she was 26 years old (49m51s).
• Her father, a vascular and general surgeon, was a huge influence on her, instilling in her a sense of social responsibility and a focus on human rights issues from a young age (50m11s).
• Laila's father grew up in Jordan, then moved to England, India, and eventually the United States, where he became a surgeon (50m27s).
• Laila initially pursued a career in the entertainment industry, working as an entertainment contract attorney and attending parties in Hollywood, including one at the Playboy Mansion (51m35s).
• However, she found the lifestyle to be hollow and unfulfilling, and eventually hit a low point in her life, partying, doing drugs, and experiencing a traumatic incident (52m42s).
• This experience led her to re-evaluate her life and eventually return to her roots, focusing on social justice and human rights issues (51m10s).
• Laila's work on child trafficking and sex trafficking has been challenging and difficult for her and her family, but she finds it worthwhile due to the progress she has seen (49m24s).
• The individual experienced a low point in their life, marked by romantic heartbreak, a bad car accident, and depression, which led to a moment of rock bottom in their early 20s (53m19s).
• During this time, they drew a picture of a flower in a deep pit with rain pouring down and water filling up the pit, symbolizing their emotional state (54m22s).
• The individual felt inspired to read their childhood Bible and opened it to a Psalm that described their picture, with words that resonated with their emotions, such as "do not let the flood waters overwhelm me" (54m47s).
• The flower is a symbol of the soul, representing its unfolding and growth, as seen in various spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and Christianity (56m9s).
• The pit in the picture represents a bottomless pit or hell, while the water symbolizes the return of chaos and uncertainty, as seen in the story of Noah's flood (56m36s).
• The individual's experience led them to seek hope and stability, and they found solace in their faith and the Bible (56m59s).
• A person had a mental image of a hole with a flower in it and water pouring down, threatening to drown the flower, symbolizing a state of chaos that can be deadly, partly due to anxiety and partly due to hopelessness (57m2s).
• This image is compared to the story of Noah's flood, where the descendants of sinners bring about the flood due to their hedonistic, self-centered, immature, exploitative, authoritarian, resentful, envious, and vicious behavior (57m20s).
• The story of Noah's flood represents chaos, which is often symbolized as water, as it can be both a place of possibility and a place where one can drown (57m45s).
• The person had this image come to mind and then read a verse from the Bible, which made them feel like there was something bigger than them present in their darkest moment (58m1s).
• The person grew up in a Christian home but had gone away from that for a time, and reading the verse brought back their impulse to turn to their faith (58m11s).
• The story of Jonah is also mentioned, where Jonah runs away from his conscience and is told by God to preach to the city of his enemy, but he refuses and ends up in a boat that encounters a storm (58m42s).
• Jonah is swallowed by a beast from the abyss, spends three days in darkness, repents, and is then visited by God, after which he preaches the words that redeem the city of Nineveh (59m22s).
• The person is compared to Jonah, being referred to as a prophet, as they both had a similar experience of being visited by a higher power in their darkest moment (59m39s).

Developing spirituality and finding true purpose in service (59m41s)

• A turning point in life led to a realization that true happiness and purpose come from serving others, rather than focusing on selfish ambitions (59m56s).
• This understanding was influenced by the book "Inspiration" by Dr. Wayne Dyer, which helped develop a spiritual perspective (1h0m5s).
• Focusing on oneself can lead to feelings of anxiety, fear, and misery, which are statistically and conceptually similar (1h0m52s).
• Immature individuals tend to focus on themselves, whereas mature people focus on their friends, family, community, and the future (1h1m7s).
• A sense of higher purpose and orientation can bring hope and a sense of direction (1h1m31s).
• Getting married at 27 and having two children, a son and a daughter, has brought immense joy and is considered the best thing that has happened in life (1h1m50s).
• Having children is the antithesis of the disposable sexuality and immediate gratification often associated with pornography (1h2m10s).
• The influence of a father figure can have a profound impact on a person's life, and girls without a father may experience premature puberty (1h2m35s).
• A father's influence can help shape a person's values and direction in life, and in this case, the father's influence led to a realization of the importance of serving others (1h2m52s).
• A documentary about child trafficking in Kolkata, India, shown by the father, had a profound impact and led to a desire to make a positive difference (1h3m22s).
• The investigation into a particular crime began after researching and watching a documentary about child sex trafficking, which was not widely discussed at the time (1h3m32s).
• The crime of child sex trafficking caught attention due to its extreme nature, being considered the worst possible thing, and the combination of innocence and devastation of that innocence (1h4m25s).
• The realization of the existence of modern-day slavery, which was thought to be gone, was shocking and drew attention to investigate and learn more (1h4m57s).
• The investigation was driven by a sense of horror and a need to understand the issue, which aligns with the alchemical rule "inquinilinus inventor," meaning what you most need will be found where you least want to look (1h5m43s).
• The willingness to look into the crime despite its disturbing nature may be attributed to a personal realization of the loss of one's own innocence (1h6m24s).
• The progression of the investigation was a result of a moment of conscience and a vision that compelled further action (1h4m0s).
• The crime of child sex trafficking is considered a form of modern-day slavery, which was not widely known or discussed at the time of the investigation (1h5m3s).
• The investigation was also driven by a sense of responsibility to act upon the knowledge gained, rather than ignoring it (1h6m12s).

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s “The Man Show” — what’s wrong with Hollywood (1h6m34s)

• The individual was initially attracted to the Hollywood lifestyle due to their background as an acrobat, having started training at the age of eight and being accepted into Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, although their father did not allow them to join the circus (1h6m34s).
• They became involved with a local acrobatic group, where they met a friend who was a pole dancer and an accomplished acrobat, and through this connection, they were invited to appear on Jimmy Kimmel's "The Man Show" (1h7m7s).
• The individual started performing on the trampoline in a bikini on "The Man Show" for a few hundred dollars, which led to them meeting different people and eventually becoming part of the counter culture (1h7m21s).
• The circus was seen as the pinnacle of achievement for an acrobat at the time, as acrobatics was not an Olympic sport, and being accepted into a circus was considered the highest quality possible (1h8m17s).
• The individual's trajectory into Hollywood began with their appearance on "The Man Show" and their connections in the acrobatic and counter culture communities (1h8m33s).
• The world of circuses and counter culture is described as having a dark side, with "dark forces" lurking behind the scenes, drawing parallels to the plot of Pinocchio and the idea of a seemingly innocent pursuit of pleasure hiding underlying horrors (1h7m51s).

The laws are sufficient, they need to be enforced (1h8m42s)

• The current laws governing what is definable as legal pornography are sufficient, particularly with regard to child exploitation, and need to be enforced rather than altered (1h9m26s).
• There are powerful, underutilized sex trafficking statutes in the United States and Canada that need to be enforced, especially in the case of PornHub and MindGeek (1h9m40s).
• In the United States and Canada, it is illegal to knowingly benefit from a sex trafficking venture, and PornHub and MindGeek need to be criminally held accountable (1h9m50s).
• To address non-consensual image-based abuse, such as revenge porn, existing laws could be strengthened (1h10m15s).
• The emergence of AI-generated pornography, including deepfakes and AI-generated child images, could be addressed through mandatory third-party age and consent verification for every individual and user-generated porn image or video on websites that enable the distribution of user-generated porn (1h10m25s).
• Implementing mandatory third-party age and consent verification could make a huge dent in solving the problem of online sexual exploitation across the internet (1h11m3s).
• Financial institutions, such as Visa and MasterCard, need to implement anti-online sexual exploitation policies, similar to anti-money laundering policies, to prevent websites from distributing user-generated porn without verifying the age and consent of every individual involved (1h11m25s).
• If financial institutions implement such policies, it could lead to a transformation of the issue across the globe, as companies like PornHub are highly motivated to comply to avoid losing business (1h11m56s).
• The deletion of 91% of PornHub's content after Visa and MasterCard disengaged from the website demonstrates the effectiveness of financial institutions in driving change (1h12m11s).

How you can help spread awareness (1h13m6s)

• Viewers can follow Laila Mickelwait on Twitter at @LailaMickelwait to stay updated on her endeavors against PornHub (1h13m15s).
• Sharing posts on social media can have a significant impact, as it can lead to increased awareness and even inspire victims to come forward and whistleblowers to share important information (1h13m42s).
• Signing the petition at TraffickingHubPetition.com can help generate media attention and pressure, with over 2.3 million people from around the world already having signed (1h14m21s).
• People can follow organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to stay informed about the issue (1h14m42s).
• Reading the book "Take Down" can provide a comprehensive understanding of the issue, with 100% of the proceeds going to support the cause through the Justice Defense Fund (1h15m21s).
• Joining Team Takedown by visiting TakedownBook.com allows individuals to commit to taking down PornHub and preventing illegal content across the internet (1h15m31s).
• All relevant links will be provided in the video description for easy access (1h15m55s).