NEW YORK — Aylo has reached a settlement with federal prosecutors in the GirlsDoPorn case, agreeing to pay out $1.8 million to victims whose GirlsDoPorn videos appeared on Aylo’s main tube site, Pornhub.
According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice, Aylo entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on Thursday, which U.S. Attorney Breon Pearce said “holds the parent company of Pornhub.com accountable for its role in hosting videos and accepting payments from criminal actors who coerced young women into engaging in sexual acts on videos that were posted without their consent.”
Aylo has also agreed to be subject to independent monitoring for three years.
The DOJ statement explained, “The Monitor will also evaluate the strength and thoroughness of Aylo’s due diligence protocols for its content partners and content programs; the robustness of the company’s content screening and monitoring processes; the adequateness of the staffing and resources dedicated by Aylo to address, mitigate and remediate takedown requests or allegations of the presence of illegal content on the company’s platforms; and the adequacy of the company’s disclosures to relevant law enforcement authorities regarding the presence of illegal content on the company’s platforms.”
The terms of the settlement were not revealed when the agreement was first announced last month. At that time, an Aylo representative noted that, following a 30-month investigation, “the government did not find that Aylo or its affiliates violated any federal criminal laws prohibiting sex trafficking or the sexual exploitation of minors, including child pornography.”
As reported by XBIZ, several members of GirlsDoPorn’s management and staff have been found guilty of various charges related to sex trafficking, stalking and defamation, among other charges.
An Aylo spokesperson stated in March that the company “did not engage in any illegal activities relating to material involving the sexual exploitation of minors or child pornography, and the government has not charged Aylo with doing so.
“As a company, the safety of our community is our top priority, and we will continue to work so that we may remain a leader in online trust and safety,” the spokesperson added.