Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, plans right-to-sue legislation for victims exploited by porn sites

Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, said he will seek legislation to guarantee legal recourse for individuals exploited by pornography websites following the publication of an alarming report Friday.

Mr. Hawley touted on Twitter an article New York Times columnist Nick Kristof reported about the website Pornhub and its part in the proliferation of videos showing children and adults being raped.

“Tremendous reporting by @NickKristof on the exploitation that occurs on sites like Pornhub. It’s time for it to end. I will introduce legislation to create a federal right to sue for every person coerced or trafficked or exploited by sites like Pornhub,” Mr. Hawley tweeted.

Pornhub did not immediately respond to a message seeking the site’s reaction.

Mr. Kristof, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, reported for the Times about how videos of children and women being raped can easily be found on Pornhub, one of the web’s most visited sites.

“Its site is infested with rape videos,” Mr. Kristof wrote, adding he spoke with several women who tried to commit suicide after videos of them performing sex acts as children were put on Pornhub.

Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, separately called for the Department of Justice to investigate MindGeek, the Canadian-based parent company of Pornhub, the Daily Caller reported later Friday.

“Sexual exploitation and human trafficking are abhorrent, period. A decent society should be working to end this,” Mr. Sasse said, according to the website.

Pornhub declined to make executives available to comment for The Times article but said in a statement that it is “unequivocally committed to combating child sexual abuse material,” the report said.

The statement from Pornhub also said it “is irresponsible and flagrantly untrue” to assert the company allows videos of children on its site, the Times reported.

Users can upload content to Pornhub, similar to other video sites like YouTube, and others can also easily download that content once it appears and share it elsewhere.

Pornhub previously said the site received around 115 million visits per day in 2019. The site currently averages more internet traffic per month than Netflix, Yahoo or Amazon, The Times reported.