Pornhub is still in turmoil! Several complaints accuse the X platform of collecting and sharing information about the sexual preferences of its users with third parties, thus violating the GDPR. A very hot case…
With 2.58 billion monthly visits, Pornhub is one of the most visited sites in the world. With such activity, it is obvious that the platform collects and processes a colossal amount of personal data from its rogue users. The question is: what does she do with it? A question that is important, given the sensitive nature of this information. And it looks like the porn giant isn’t all white about it, far from it. Indeed, it is currently the subject of several complaints in the European Union and is accused of having violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) several times in terms of collection, as reported by the media. Wired. According to the complainants, Pornhub does not allow users to easily refuse the tracking of cookies – tracers used to personalize the navigation of an Internet user – is not transparent about the sharing of data with third parties, and its algorithm profiles Internet users’ sexual preferences based on the videos they watch.
Pornhub Profiles: Many GDPR Violations
In Italy, the #StopDataPorn collective and several researchers filed a complaint this week – this one adds to two other broader complaints filed with Italian and Cypriot authorities last year – accusing the porn giant of dealing with the data of millions of people illegally, by not respecting the GDPR. According to European privacy laws, a website must obtain the consent of the user in order to be able to track them with cookies. This is why most display pop-ups or huge banners offering to accept cookies, personalize them or refuse them – even if, sometimes, the option to refuse is cleverly concealed. However, when you go to Pornhub, you only have the right to a small banner indicating “we use cookies to optimize the functionality of the site and give you the best possible experience”, with a yellow “Ok” button to click on. According to Alessandro Polidoro, the group’s lead lawyer who filed the complaint, the site follows us with its cookies whether we click on them or not. The user’s consent is therefore not collected.
Another big problem: the platform’s algorithm would assign each user a “sexual preference profile”, based on the history of videos watched. Again, this practice is prohibited by the GDPR, which states that “sensitive data” based on “the health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation” cannot be gathered or collected unless they are “necessary to safeguard human life” – which is a priori not the case for pornographic videos. Of course, users are not informed of this. “Platforms like Pornhub accumulate information about everyone’s sexual orientation and exchange it with business partners for profit”explains Alessandro Polidoro in a statement. “They are able to create ‘lists’ of who is gay and who is not, for example, and know intimate secrets and perversions that people would not share, even with their closest friends”.
Because Pornhub is particularly discreet about the use and possible sharing of the personal data collected, in particular between the various companies which belong to MindGeek – its parent company based in Canada and recently acquired by a private equity firm by the name of Ethical Capital Partners – such as YouPorn, Xtube, Brazzers and RedTube. But it goes even further. #StopDataPorn complaints are based on research conducted by Tracking Exposed, a digital rights advocacy group. He used cookie tracking tools, like Blacklight and Privacy Badger, and discovered that Pornhub data was being passed to Google Analytics and TrafficJunky, MindGeek’s advertising platform. One of the technologies used by the platform makes it possible to store the identifiers of the videos viewed, even without being connected to Pornhub. According to Alessandro Polidoro, this creates a parallel search history stored directly on the user’s device, and he may end up with targeted ads exposing his porn preferences on his computer, which is not necessarily exclusively personal… The collective also noted other breaches of the GDPR, but it chose to focus on these three areas only.
Pornhub: pornography in the sights of legislators
These complaints, which could take years to resolve, come at a time when the online pornography industry is under increased scrutiny from regulators around the world. Governments seek to impose mandatory age verification of users in order to prohibit platforms for minors and, for this, they do not hesitate to block access to sites (see our article). This is the case in several states of the United States. In France, a decisive decision on this subject is expected in early July. Taking into account that Pornhub’s traffic is among the highest in the world, the sensitive nature of the information collected, and the general lack of leniency from lawmakers for the porn industry, the site could well be fined. particularly heavy.
However, these complaints should shed light on the amount of data collected by porn sites and how it is processed. As Wired points out, researchers analyzed no less than 22,484 porn sites in 2019 and found that 93% of them transmitted data to third parties, that 44.97% “expounded or suggested” a user’s gender or gender identity, and that 79% used tracking cookies from third-party companies, the majority from Google. You will think twice before going back!