A 2021 federal lawsuit accused Pornhub’s then-owner, MindGeek, of hosting, promoting and profiting from videos that allegedly showed minors, sexual assaults and people recorded or distributed without their consent. The complaint was filed by Serena Fleites and 33 anonymous plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The allegations were serious, but they were not a final court finding that every claim was true. The litigation developed through several procedural stages, and the case remained active as of June 2026. The company at the center of the dispute is now known as Aylo.
What the lawsuit alleged
The complaint, filed on June 17, 2021, argued that MindGeek’s business model went beyond passively hosting user uploads. The plaintiffs alleged that the company’s websites accepted, reviewed, categorized, tagged, recommended and monetized videos while failing to reliably establish that everyone appearing in them was an adult who had consented to publication.
According to contemporary reporting, 14 of the 34 plaintiffs said they had appeared in videos while underage. Another 14 said they were victims of people who had been charged with or convicted of sex crimes. Those figures describe allegations made by the plaintiffs; they do not mean that every allegation had been proven in court.
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The complaint also alleged that some material was labeled or made searchable using terms connected with minors, rape, violence, “revenge porn” and non-consensual sex. Plaintiffs claimed that videos could continue to exist in company systems after removal requests and could reappear on affiliated websites. These were claims in the civil complaint, rather than findings established by a trial verdict.
Why MindGeek’s role mattered
A central issue was whether MindGeek could characterize the material simply as content uploaded by users, or whether its own business practices made it an active participant in distributing and profiting from unlawful videos.
The plaintiffs said the company’s moderation, search, recommendation and advertising systems helped give the videos an audience. They also alleged that revenue came from advertising, paid memberships and payment processing connected with the websites. Visa was named as a defendant because the plaintiffs claimed it knowingly facilitated transactions tied to the business. Visa denied wrongdoing.
The complaint invoked federal sex-trafficking and child-sexual-abuse-material laws, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, California statutes and common-law claims. Bringing those causes of action did not establish liability. It set out the legal theories the plaintiffs intended to pursue.
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The case was not simply dismissed
One point often lost in summaries of the story is what happened to the original group lawsuit.
On February 10, 2022, the court severed the claims of the 34 plaintiffs. Serena Fleites remained the plaintiff in that action, while Jane Does 1 through 33 were dismissed from that case without prejudice. “Without prejudice” is important: it meant the court was not deciding the merits of those women’s allegations and was not necessarily preventing them from bringing separate actions.
The Fleites litigation then continued through amended pleadings and motions to dismiss. In July 2022, the court denied or deferred several requests to end the case and permitted jurisdictional discovery. Visa was not completely dismissed at that stage.
Later rulings narrowed the dispute. In 2025, the court dismissed some claims and defendants but allowed other claims against MindGeek-related defendants to proceed. The court dismissed claims against individual former executives with prejudice in September 2025. As of June 2026, docket activity showed further motions involving Fleites’s third amended complaint, Visa and other defendants. There had not been a final trial judgment resolving the entire dispute.
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MindGeek became Aylo
The corporate name has changed since the lawsuit was filed. MindGeek was later renamed Aylo, which operates Pornhub and other adult-content websites. Historical court documents still use the MindGeek name because that was the relevant corporate identity when the events and complaint arose.
The name change does not itself resolve the allegations. It is best understood as a change in corporate branding and ownership context, not as a court ruling about the claims in the lawsuit.
A separate government action in 2025
In September 2025, the Federal Trade Commission and Utah announced a separate settlement with Aylo. Regulators alleged that the company had misrepresented how effectively it prevented child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate material from appearing on its services. The FTC and Utah said that tens of thousands of files had not been adequately blocked despite representations that such content was prohibited.
The stipulated order required Aylo to create procedures and technical safeguards for preventing the publication and dissemination of illegal material, responding to reports and verifying that people appearing in videos were consenting adults. It included a $15 million monetary judgment, which was suspended after Aylo paid $5 million to Utah.
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This government matter should not be confused with Fleites’s private lawsuit. The FTC and Utah proceeding concerned alleged deceptive representations and resulted in a stipulated settlement or order. It was not a jury verdict in the women’s civil case. The FTC case page described the matter as pending in its September 8, 2025 update, so the settlement should be reported as an announced government resolution rather than as a judicial merits verdict.
What can and cannot be concluded
| Accurate description | Misleading description |
|---|---|
| The 2021 complaint alleged that MindGeek distributed and monetized illegal and non-consensual material. | Pornhub was definitively found liable for every allegation in the complaint. |
| The original 34-plaintiff action was severed; Fleites’s case continued. | The entire case was simply dismissed. |
| Former MindGeek entities are now associated with the Aylo name. | The name change proves that the allegations were resolved. |
| The 2025 FTC and Utah matter was a separate stipulated government proceeding. | The FTC settlement was the final judgment in the 2021 private lawsuit. |
The broader issue raised by the litigation is how large user-upload platforms verify age and consent, detect illegal material, respond to complaints and prevent removed content from returning. Those questions involve not only the people who upload videos, but also the platform systems that organize, recommend, advertise and monetize them.
For victims, the dispute also highlights the difficulty of removing intimate material once it has been copied, reuploaded or circulated across related services. For regulators and courts, it raises harder questions about when a platform’s technical and commercial involvement can create responsibility beyond that of a passive host.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.FAQ
Was Pornhub found guilty of serving underage or non-consensual videos?
Not in the 2021 lawsuit. The complaint made those allegations, but a civil complaint is not a final finding of liability. The Fleites case remained ongoing as of June 2026.
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What happened to the 34 plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit?
The court severed their claims in February 2022. Serena Fleites remained in the main action, while the 33 anonymous plaintiffs were dismissed without prejudice from that particular case.
Is MindGeek still the company’s name?
No. MindGeek was later renamed Aylo, although court records concerning the 2021 lawsuit continue to use the historical MindGeek entity names.
Was the 2025 FTC action the same case?
No. The FTC and Utah action was separate from Fleites’s private lawsuit. It concerned allegations about Aylo’s representations and content-moderation practices and produced a stipulated settlement or order.
The Bottom Line
The Pornhub lawsuit began with allegations that MindGeek’s platform practices enabled the distribution and monetization of videos involving minors and people who had not consented to publication. The claims were partly narrowed and reorganized, but the central Fleites litigation was not ended by a final trial judgment as of June 2026. A separate 2025 government settlement with Aylo added regulatory pressure, but it should not be presented as a verdict in the private lawsuit.
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