A Crusade Against Online Exploitation
Laila Mickelwait, a mother and founder of the Justice Defense Fund, launched the #Traffickinghub petition in February 2020 after uncovering an adult website’s role in hosting illegal content including videos of child sexual abuse, rape, and trafficking. And the results have been staggering. With almost 2.5MM signatures at the time of the article, and new legislation being introduced to ban p*rnography online altogether, Mickelwait efforts are not in vain.
The website, P*rnhub registered 130 million daily visitors and ranked as the fifth most visited website globally— with 42 billion annual visits and enough content to require 169 years to watch back-to-back.
Until Mickelwait stepped in.
Her relentless crusade exposed its sinister underbelly, forcing the removal of 91% of its content—over 50 million videos—and sparking a global movement for justice.
Mickelwait and her #Traffickinghub campaign is documented in her bestselling book, Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape, and Sex Trafficking (Penguin Random House, 2024). The decentralized movement united millions of individuals, hundreds of survivors, and over 600 organizations across political, faith, and ideological lines, all demanding the shutdown of P*rnhub and accountability for its executives at MindGeek, its parent company.
Mickelwait’s petition, directed to the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Congress, and Canadian authorities, highlighted cases like a 15-year-old girl, missing for a year, whose rape appeared in 58 P*rnhub videos, and 22 women deceived by GirlsDoP*rn’s Michael Pratt, who uploaded coerced content to the site. Pratt, now a fugitive wanted on federal charges, is among those being held accountable, alongside MindGeek’s former CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo.
Shockingly Lax Processes
The #Traffickinghub movement, backed by 2.3 million petition signatories from 192 countries, delivered unprecedented results. By 2024, P*rnhub had deleted 91% of its content—over 50 million videos and images—in what the Financial Times called “probably the biggest takedown of content in Internet history.” Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and PayPal severed ties, leaving P*rnhub with only cryptocurrency and wire transfers. Major advertisers like Kraft Heinz, Unilever, and Comcast-Xfinity pulled out, and Meta, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube banned Pornhub’s accounts and its 14 million followers. The secret majority shareholder, Bernd Bergmair, was exposed, and Antoon and Tassillo resigned. MindGeek was sold, and Pornhub faced 25 lawsuits from 257 victims across the U.S., Canada, and UK, seeking billions in damages. The U.S. government charged the company with profiting from sex trafficking, and Canadian investigations found violations of privacy and mandatory reporting laws.
Takedown offers an insider’s view of Mickelwait’s campaign, from confronting credit card executives to testifying before the U.S. Financial Services Committee. The demand for accountability continues today, “Pornhub is still a crime scene,” she writes, urging the site’s shutdown to end corporate impunity.
New Legislation Introduced
In a significant development as a result of the growing movement in America toward righteousness, U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a bill in 2025 to criminalize pornography in the United States, citing its role in facilitating child abuse, rape, and trafficking. The bill, supported by Mickelwait and #Traffickinghub, aims to make the distribution of pornographic content a federal crime, with penalties including fines and up to seven years in prison. This legislation could dramatically shift the legal landscape for platforms like P*rnhub, strengthening efforts to eradicate illegal content.
The fight continues. Mickelwait calls for supporters to join #Traffickinghub by signing the petition, following her on Twitter and Instagram, and visiting Takedownbook.com for the full story. Victims of P*rnhub or other MindGeek platforms can find help via the petition’s resources. As The Spectator praised, Takedown is “a testament to tenacity,” proving one woman’s resolve can challenge a digital empire and demand justice for the voiceless.
