The internet meme, Rule 34, says there is porn made of every conceivable topic.
This may or may not be true (it is a meme after all), but what is true is that where there is user-generated content, there is abuse. It was only a matter of time before we discussed TikTok and the latest revelation that teenagers’ videos are being reposted to Pornhub.
User-generated content refers to websites that allow their users to upload content to that site, like social media platforms. This freedom to post is also extended to some porn sites like Pornhub who reported 6.83 million video uploads in 2019. This works out to be 1.39 million hours of new content which would take 169 years to view. Insert shocked face with exploding head emoji.
Note that anyone from anywhere can upload anything to Pornhub, even if it’s a full-length feature film that’s rated PG, or even other innocuous types of content. But somewhere in the mix of those years of new videos are guaranteed to be nonconsensual images and stolen content like TikTok clips from teens. These videos are not what you would expect to find on a hardcore site like Pornhub—they generally feature young women and teenagers dancing, fully clothed.
TikTok is widely known as a platform utilized by children and teens, making Pornhubs’ users interest concerning. Yet, no matter the age, stealing a video and reposting on a porn site without consent is not okay.
TikTok today
But first, a quick review.
TikTok debuted onto the international scene in 2018 and has since garnered millions of users in the United States. The site is known for short video clips featuring lip syncs, dance videos, funny skits, and challenges, but it hasn’t been all uphill for the social media platform.
In 2019, a BBC investigation revealed hundreds of sexually explicit comments under videos posted by minors including children as young as nine. While TikTok removed the comments when reported, they failed to suspend the commenters’ accounts. These kinds of comments can be the start of the online grooming process that perpetrators use to pursue or abuse minors.
Related: 7 Cases Of Nonconsensual Porn And Rape Tapes Pornhub Doesn’t Want Consumers To Know About
There are also communities within the app that encourage “soliciting images of boys and girls” and certain hashtags for sharing nudes.
When facing this criticism, TikTok pointed to their Terms of Service that prohibits intimidation, harassment, and the promotion of sexually explicit material, but as online abuse specialist and lawyer Carrie Goldberg pointed out, the Terms of Service for social media companies is not enforceable in court. They are nice words but companies are not held to account if abusive content slips through the cracks, which it often does.
These issues are not unique to TikTok. Every social media platform or website that hosts user-generated content is similarly dealing with explicit material and unsafe behaviors on their sites. Slowly, some are taking steps to improve, but TikTok has grown quickly, leaving concerns about the company’s ability to keep up and protect their users.
Pornhub enters the picture
Knowing the concerns about TikTok, it is perhaps not a surprise that teenagers’ videos have started showing up on Pornhub. To be clear, this is not teens posting their videos to the free porn site, but rather other TikTok users stealing content and reposting.
Recently, a new trend spread on TikTok of girls bending over and arching their backs in a sexually suggestive position to a snippet of “Goodbye” by Feder feat. Lyse. A popular user, @urgirladrie, posted a video that went viral warning young female TikTokers that a compilation video of girls performing that trend had been posted on Pornhub. Initially, she said she was hesitant to comment on the trend until she saw the compilation. After several reports, Pornhub (thankfully) removed the video.
While reporting on the compilation video, Rolling Stone found more examples of TikTok content on Pornhub featuring young women. These videos included more examples of the “Goodbye” trend, “WAP” by Cardi B feat. Megan Three Stallion dance compilation, and others.
While the young women were fully clothed, the videos were posted with titles such as “CRAZY THICK White Girl Does WAP Dance” and “A New TikTok Slut Is Born.” In some examples, the original video was set in a collage next to actual porn or edited with moaning sounds over the original audio.
Often, the creator’s TikTok handle was visible in the Pornhub post, potentially sending viewers to a teen’s social media account. As with other kinds of image-based abuse online, it is unclear if the women are aware their videos have been posted to the Pornhub.
Not a harmless act
Leila, a Youtuber, wrote to us recently about her own image being stolen and posted on Pornhub. She had shared a video about her self-esteem journey and included a tasteful photo of herself in a bikini at the beach. Later, she found out the image was manipulated to make her appear nude and pose more sexually.
“They chose to take something beautiful, honest, empowering, and vulnerable, and warp it into something pornographic for people to repeatedly take advantage of,” she said. “They violated my image!”
Humans are good at finger-pointing, but too often the blame is placed on teens and young women who are the victims of stolen content, image-based abuse, and privacy violations. But consider how a dance video is not an open invitation for abuse.
Some may choose to not post anything that could be sexually misconstrued, but self-censorship is not a practical or sustainable solution. After all, deepfakes can superimpose a person’s face onto the body of a porn performer with few images of a victim’s face to create the manipulation.
Perhaps TikTok and Pornhub need to improve their content moderation strategies. Also, the perpetrators are rarely held responsible despite their harmful assumptions that they are entitled to steal and alter videos and post them on a porn site. This behavior encourages image-based abuse and normalizes teen content on a supposed adult platform. Pornhub’s Terms of Service also prohibits underage content, but that has not stopped “teen” from ranking among the most used search terms year after year.
Many of us are used to incorrectly believing that things are free for the taking on the internet. Some may take this a step further and feel entitled to take what they want and harass or abuse what they don’t. This is not the behavior we practice in person, so why is it so okay online?
If we want a different kind of online life, we need to ask for it. The first step is refusing to click on sites like Pornhub that host nonconsensual, stolen, and underage content.
