"Pornhub is next": why a popular porn site is shutting down in the US

The porn site XTube has announced its imminent closure. The owners claim that the reason for this was the desire to focus the attention of users and authors of XTube on their more popular resources. However, activists and journalists are sure that the reason lies in the many lawsuits from people whose videos were illegally posted on the network

The porn site XTube, which is owned by the largest porn company MindGeek, will be closed on September 5, 2021. According to The Next Web, the reasons for this decision are not directly stated, but a large number of lawsuits against other adult resources hints at the desire to insure ourselves against new problems.

MindGeek Corporation includes popular porn sites such as Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn, as well as porn studios such as Brazzers, Digital Playground, and Reality Kings.

In recent years, the porn holding has found itself in a web of many lawsuits, most of which were related to the placement of illegal content.

The plaintiffs are victims of rape, sexual abuse and revenge porn (the publication of an erotic video on the network after a conflict or breakup), videos whose participation were in the public domain.

Judicial strike

The latest lawsuits were filed back in June. But, judging by the trend, this is far from the last legal action against MindGeek. According to The Next Web, the potential risk of many new lawsuits was a factor in XTube's fate. It is noted that the resource did not focus on the decision to close.

At the same time, activist Laila Mikelveit, who opposes human trafficking and sexual crimes, spoke about the imminent disconnection of XTube. “Here's the lesson: you can't work legally, don't work at all. Pornhub is next, ” she wrote on her Twitter account. 

The XTube application itself is also extremely difficult to find, it is published not even on the main, but inside the resource man page. It states that the site will be closed after 13 years of operation. At the same time, the ability to upload photos and videos is already disabled there. For content authors wishing to continue posting their videos, the XTube administration advised joining Pornhub or MyDirtyHobby.

Ignoring the topic of claims

MindGeek later provided a comment on the situation. The company assured that the decision is related to the desire to help users and authors of XTube, a less popular resource among the company's services. The representative of the corporation noted that in this way the audience will turn to more popular sites within MindGeek: authors will be able to increase the audience of fans, and users will receive more content. At the same time, nothing is said about the fact that the closure may be associated with many lawsuits.

XTube was founded in 2006 and was one of the first sites to allow users to post their own videos.

Thus, owners have good reason to fear the presence of a lot of potentially dangerous sexual content on their pages. The Next Web emphasizes that the format of such sites was originally based on the publication of illegal videos, including those from different studios or independent enthusiasts on the network. The closure of XTube may mean a desire to get away from such practices and be completely in the legal field, the newspaper notes.