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Pornhub is a Canadian pornographic video sharing website and the largest pornography site on the Internet.[5][6] Pornhub was launched in Montreal, providing professional and amateur photography since 2007.[7] Pornhub also has offices and servers in San Francisco, Houston, New Orleans and London. In March 2010, Pornhub was bought by Manwin (now known as MindGeek), which owns numerous other pornographic websites.

Contents

History

Pornhub was founded by web developer Matt Keezer as a website within the company Interhub, and launched on 25 May 2007.[8] In March 2010, the company was purchased by Fabian Thylmann as part of the Manwin conglomerate, now known as MindGeek.[9] As part of MindGeek, Pornhub makes up one of several pornographic websites in the company's "Pornhub NETWORK", alongside YouPorn, RedTube[2] and the like. Though not the most popular pornographic website, Pornhub holds the honour of being the single largest such website on the internet, hosting more videos than any similar site.[5]

The website allows visitors to view pornographic videos from a number of categories, including professional and amateur pornography. Users can take advantage of several features, including sharing videos on social media websites and liking or disliking them. Users may also optionally register a free Pornhub account, which additionally allows them to post comments, download videos and add videos to their favourites, as well as upload videos themselves. To combat the proliferation of illegal content, users are encouraged to flag videos they deem inappropriate, which are immediately reviewed by the Pornhub team and removed if they violate the website's terms of service.[10]

In an effort to introduce quality curation to the site, the company launched a service called "Pornhub Select" in October 2013.[11] Pornhub also launched a content curation website on 9 October 2013 called "PornIQ", which uses an algorithm to create personalized video playlists for the viewer based on a number of factors, including their porn preferences, the time of day they're visiting the website, what part of the world they live in and the amount of time the viewer has to watch the video(s).[12][13] David Holmes of PandoDaily noted that Pornhub's data-intensive approach to playlists set it apart from previous attempts at user-generated playlists, and marked a new trend in the switch from content searching to passive curation among Web 2.0 websites.[13]

As of 2009, three of the largest pornographic sites "RedTube, YouPorn and PornHub -- collectively make up 100 million unique visitors".[14] In 2014, Pornhub told its viewers to stop uploading footage from Brazil's defeat to Germany at the 2014 FIFA World Cup with sexual innuendo titles.[15]

In June 2015, Pornhub announced that it was going to make a pornographic film featuring real-life sex in space, named Sexplorations. The site hoped to launch the mission and shoot the movie in 2016, covering the pre- and post-production costs itself but seeking $3.4 million from IndieGogo crowdfunders. Pornographic actors Eva Lovia and Johnny Sins have been lined up to star in Sexplorations, and will receive "six months of rigorous training" prior to launch.[16]

On 1 February 2016, Pornhub launched an online casino, powered by Betsoft, Endorphina and 1x2 gaming software.[17]

On 1 April 2016, April Fool's Day, the website's front page became CornHub, displaying videos of sweet corn with sexually alluring titles.[18] In 2018, the front page became HornHub.

In October 2017, vice president Corey Price announced that PornHub would use computer vision and artificial intelligence software to identify and tag videos on the website with information about the performers and sex acts. Price said the company plans to scan its entire library beginning in early 2018.[19][20]

Copyright infringement claims

In 2010, Mansef Inc. and Interhub, the then owners of Pornhub, were sued by the copyright holding company of the pornographic film production company Pink Visual, Ventura Content, for the copyright infringement of 95 videos on websites, including Pornhub, Keezmovies, Extremetube, and Tube8.[21] According to Ventura Content the 45 videos were streamed “tens of millions of times”[22] and they claimed the piracy threatened the "entire adult entertainment industry."[23] The suit was settled in October 2010, with terms that remain confidential. The parties agreed that the site operators would implement digital fingerprint filtering on their sites.[24] Porn 2.0 sites such as these are seen as posing notable competition for paid pornographic websites and traditional magazine and DVD-based pornography.[25][26][27]

Censorship

In 2011, European broadband provider TalkTalk (formerly Tiscali) received some criticism because its internet filter failed to block Pornhub, for over a week. This was due to the issue of child internet safety.[5]

The Huffington Post explains that in 2013, "CBS...refused to air a short commercial for adult-themed site Pornhub during the Super Bowl on Sunday....The 20-second spot, which features an older couple sitting on a park bench (that's really all that happens), includes no explicit content".[28] It was rejected because the Federal Communications Commission could hold CBS liable for endorsing pornographic content, as it is illegal to air pornography on US television.[28]

The website was blocked by the Great Firewall in China from September 2013.[29]

On 12 March 2014, Pornhub was blocked in Russia because one actress looked too young, leading some viewers to think she was a minor.[30][31]

In January 2017, Pornhub was among the pornographic websites that were blocked in the Philippines in adherence to the Anti-Child Pornography Law.[32]

The site was blocked in September 2016 in Russia due to "spreading harmful information to children", and reinstated in April 2017 after specifying the age of users. The site requires Russian users to provide their cellphone numbers or passports to log in.[33]

Malvertising

Main article: Malvertising

Researcher Conrad Longmore claims that advertisements displayed by the sites were found to contain malware programs, which install harmful files on users' machines without their permission. Longmore told the BBC that two popular sites – XHamster and Pornhub – pose the greatest threat.[34]

Philanthropy

Since 2012, Pornhub has hosted several events and campaigns to raise awareness of certain issues or raise money, as well as to help promote their brand.[35] The first of these events took place in New York City on 24 April 2012, with the introduction of the "Boob Bus".[36][37][38] The tour bus traveled to five scheduled stops at several NYC landmarks, and was intended to raise awareness of breast cancer by offering free breast exams for passers-by, as well as teaching self-examination techniques to use at home.[37] Double-board certified plastic surgeon Dr. David Shafer was present to give the exams and teach women how to perform self-exams, and pornographic actress Bree Olson acted as a cheerleader for the event.[37]

Pornhub continued their breast cancer awareness campaign in October 2012 by launching an event called "Save the Boobs!"[39][40] For every 30 videos viewed in Pornhub's "big tit" or "small tit" category in the month of October, the website offered to donate a penny to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.[41] However, on 4 October, early into the campaign, the Susan G. Komen Foundation rejected the offer, stating that they were not a partner of Pornhub, were not accepting donations and asked the company to stop using their name.[42] In response, Pornhub called on "any charitable entities related to breast cancer research or awareness" to submit their interest in accepting the donations.[42] By the end of the month, a total of 74,146,928 video views were amassed, equaling approximately $24,716 worth of donations, which Pornhub subsequently tripled to $75,000.[43] After an extensive search Pornhub ultimately split the donation money amongst several charities, among which were the Eileen Stein Jacoby Fund and Cancer Sucks Inc.[43][44]

In honour of Arbour Day 2014, Pornhub launched a weeklong environmental campaign called "Pornhub Gives America Wood", which started on 25 April 2014 and ended on 2 May 2014.[45][46][47] In a similar manner to the website's previous "Save the Boobs!" campaign, Pornhub offered to plant a single tree for every 100 videos viewed in the site's "big dick" category.[45] In total, approximately 1,547,300 video views were counted, which resulted in 15,473 trees to be planted.[45][47] After the campaign ended on 2 May 2014, Pornhub's PR director stated that they were considering working with one of three environmental organizations to help them plant the trees.[48]

Products

360-degree video

Pornhub offers 360° videos for their premium customers and can be used with Playstation VR.[49]

Wearable device

In February 2015,[50] PornHub announced an upcoming wristband equipped with a kinetic energy electric generator. Aimed primarily at men, the wristband would use the up and down motion of masturbation to charge consumer electronics.[51]

Statistical research

Pornhub has released a series of announcements of information derived from its archive of searches: in what regions it is most used (conservative areas), female searches vis-à-vis male searches, the most popular search terms by year or area, and the like. (In the first half of 2017, for example, the top search term in the U.S. was "hentai"; 37% of searchers for gay male porn are women.) In this way it has been called "the Kinsey Report" of our time."[52]

According to research by data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, 25% of female searches for heterosexual porn on PornHub involved keywords searching for painful, humiliating, or non-consensual sex.[53][54]

The statisticians of PornHub provided an unusual sociological report of the events of the Hawaii false missile alert of January 2018, beginning with a precipitous decrease in traffic immediately after the first alert. "By 8:23am, traffic was a massive -77% below that of a typical Saturday. As residents were notified around 8:45 that the initial warning was sent in error, traffic began to return to normal and Hawaiians collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Those seeking further relief, headed back to Pornhub where pageviews surged +48% above typical levels at 9:01am.[55] (Likewise, traffic dropped precipitously along the path of totality of the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, so much so that the researchers were themselves surprised.) [56]

In popular culture

Pornhub makes a prominent appearance in many scenes of the 2013 romantic comedy film Don Jon.[57] Pornhub Vice President Cory Price explained that one of the film's producers approached the company in March 2012, seeking permission to use the Pornhub brand.[57] Price reviewed the movie's script and granted them permission, going as far as helping them find clips to use in the movie from their content partners (e.g. Brazzers, Mofos, Digital Playground and Twistys).[57] Joseph Gordon-Levitt, director and actor in the film, edited the clips together into rapid-fire montages, also featured prominently in the film.[57]

See also

References

‏Source en.wikipedia.org