In recent years, Netflix has gone from a streaming service with an onslaught of material that would allow you to sit back, tune out and mindlessly watch, to something of a conversational starter by way of documentary film. With a steady stream of original content, the streaming service has released a number of feature-length documentaries that have delved further into past events, intriguing characters, true-crime stories and various businesses that have fallen into the trap of quick success over moral – and legal – principles. Now, its latest documentary is set to give a greater glimpse into the rise and fall of Pornhub, detailing the website’s successes and failures.
The documentary, titled Moneyshot: The Pornhub Story, will give audiences a greater insight into how Pornhub came to fundamentally change the way hardcore pornography is made, distributed and consumed at a global level. Released on Netflix on 15 March, it will feature interviews with porn stars, activists and past Pornhub employees.
The significance of Pornhub on the adult entertainment industry is impossibly to quantify. As a description from Netflix suggests, the website enabled adult content creators to reach “a massive audience while the company made billions of dollars – but it also became embroiled in allegations including non-consensual material and trafficking on the site.”
The description goes on to add, “As anti-trafficking organisations seek justice for victims, can the online giant protect those from whom they profit, or is this a new wave of censorship for adult performers making consensual porn?”
Since launching in 2007, Pornhub’s accounts on YouTube and Instagram have been shut down after the company was found to have violated the respective platforms’ policies. This revelation came after the fact that MindGeek – Pornhub’s parent company – was sued by numerous plaintiffs who alleged Pornhub had profited by distributing child pornography and nonconsensual sex videos. MindGeek responded to the allegations by emphasising that it had “instituted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history.” In 2022, Visa and Mastercard cut off payment processing to TrafficJunky, the advertising arm of MindGeek that is used to sell ads on Pornhub.
The film, produced by Jigsaw Productions, has Nicki Carrico serving as producer, alongside Stacey Offman and Richard Perello as executive producers. “This documentary requires us to grapple with what sexuality and consent means when billion-dollar internet platforms thrive on user-generated content,” says producer Suzan Hillinger.
“Who has, and who should have, the power in these environments? Our hope is that this film generates important conversations about sex and consent, both on the internet and out in the world.”
