Pornhub parent company MindGeek loses its CEO and COO, here is why

MindGeek, the parent company of popular adult video streaming sites Pornhub and YouPorn, on Tuesday said that its chief executive and chief operating officer have resigned.

MindGeek told Variety that CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tasillo have stepped down from the company after more than a decade of running operations. The company said that the change in leadership was planned since early 2022 and that Antoon and Tasillo will remain shareholders in MindGeek.

“Antoon and Tassillo leave MindGeek’s day-to-day operations after more than a decade in leadership positions with the company. With the company strategically positioned for long-term growth, MindGeek’s executive leadership team will run day-to-day operations on an interim basis, with a search underway for replacements,” MindGeek told Variety.

It may be mentioned that the sudden resignations comes amid controversy surrounding Pornhub’s alleged moderation policy failures as highlighted in an investigative piece by the New Yorker.

The CEO and COO of MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, resigned Tuesday. https://t.co/GM1668S298

— Forbes (@Forbes) June 21, 2022

The investigation claims that Pornhub has hosted non-consensual and underage videos for years. The New Yorker said that it had interviewed several women who discovered videos and pictures of themselves on the Pornhub website that they did not consent to sharing. The magazine said that these women had spent months trying to get Pornhub to remove the content.

MindGeek has rejected all claims and a company spokesperson told the Washington Post that the report was a “gross mischaracterisation.” “[The New Yorker] chose to ignore the fact that MindGeek has more comprehensive and effective policies than any other major platform on the internet, and decided to peddle the same gross mischaracterisations that anti-porn extremists have spewed for decades,” read the statement.

This is not the first time that the company has found itself embroiled in a scandal. For instance, Visa and Mastercard suspended processing payments for Pornhub after an investigation by the New York Times found unlawful content on the adult platform.

Also, a 2021 lawsuit claimed that MindGeek violated federal sex trafficking and child pornography laws by allowing – and profiting from – its users posting pornographic videos featuring people under the age of 18, including children.

According to MindGeek, its adult entertainment sites like Pornhub and YouPorn gets 150 million daily active users.