Aylo (Pornhub) Reaches $120M Settlement in CSAM Lawsuits

A U.S. District Court judge has granted preliminary approval to a class-action settlement involving Aylo, the company behind Pornhub, and plaintiffs in two lawsuits alleging the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its sites. The agreement includes a $120 million payment and new content moderation policies.

Settlement Details and Background

On Monday, November 9, 2026, U.S. District Court Judge Wesley Hsu granted preliminary approval to a settlement agreement between Aylo and plaintiffs in two class-action lawsuits. The lawsuits, Jane Doe v. MindGeek USA Inc. et al. and Doe #1 et al v. MG Freesites LTD et al., alleged that MindGeek, the former parent company of Pornhub, knowingly allowed and profited from CSAM on its websites.

The cases were filed in 2021 in California and Alabama, days apart, and accused MindGeek of violating federal sex trafficking laws. The plaintiffs were women who stated they were victims of child sex trafficking and that videos of their abuse were publicly available on MindGeek websites. The settlement motion stated that thousands of children whose sexual exploitation was recorded and uploaded by third parties were distributed by the defendants across the world, with their videos and images viewed over 684 million times on Pornhub.com and other defendant websites.

Class certification was granted for anyone who was under 18 when they appeared in a video or image viewable on any MindGeek website starting in February 2011. The class period for the settlement extends from February 12, 2011, through December 6, 2024.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, filed in August with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Aylo will pay $120 million into a settlement fund over six years. The company makes no concession of wrongdoing and no admission regarding whether it is entitled to immunity under Section 230. However, Aylo has agreed to implement a series of security measures. These measures include verifying the ages of uploaders and individuals appearing in content, detecting and removing suspected or actual CSAM, and expanding procedures for content removal requests, withdrawal of consent requests, and content flagging. The agreement also specifies mandatory government-ID verification for all persons depicted in the content. Additionally, the websites agreed to implement extensive content moderation using technological tools and human moderation to review, detect, and remove prohibited content, and to conduct mandatory workplace training to prevent child sexual abuse material.

Aylo's Transition and New Policies

MindGeek was acquired by Ethical Capital Partners in 2023 and subsequently rebranded as Aylo. Following the acquisition, Aylo embarked on a campaign of transparency and has been addressing multiple legal actions originally directed against MindGeek. Aylo has already implemented many of the security measures outlined in the settlement. The company publicly stated that as of June 30, 2025, any content that did not meet its performer verification standards had been disabled and removed from Pornhub.

The lawsuits were filed in the wake of the 2020 New York Times article “The Children of Pornhub,” written by journalist Nicholas Kristof. This article alleged deficient content moderation practices by Pornhub under its then-operator, MindGeek. Anti-pornography groups cited the piece as evidence for their allegations linking the online adult industry with sex trafficking and CSAM.

Next Steps

A final approval hearing on the settlement agreement is scheduled for February 26, 2027. Prior to this hearing, class members retain the right to file objections to the proposed settlement.

Key Facts

• A U.S. District Court judge granted preliminary approval to a class-action settlement involving Aylo.
• The settlement addresses allegations that former Pornhub parent company MindGeek knowingly allowed and profited from CSAM.
• Aylo will pay $120 million into a settlement fund over six years.
• The agreement includes the implementation of new security measures for age verification, content detection, and removal.
• The class includes individuals under 18 who appeared in content on MindGeek websites from February 2011.
• A final approval hearing for the settlement is set for February 26, 2027.