30 Women sue top notch adult content website alleging lack of consent

Dozens of women have filed a lawsuit in California accusing the adult video giant of promoting abuse. In March, more than a hundred women had raised a criminal complaint against the owner of the parent company.

More than 30 women have filed a lawsuit in California against PH (Short form of the name) and its parent company for profiting from exploitation and skirting rules that provide actors with protection in the Adult content industry.

The lawyers representing the plaintiffs accuse the parent company, MindGeek, of running a "classic criminal enterprise" with a business model that profits from  non Adult content.

What does the lawsuit say?

A draft of the lawsuit said that MindGeek "embraced under-age, non-consensual, and pirated content in its business," reported American media company CBS.

One of the plaintiffs said she had seen a nude video that her boyfriend had coerced her to make when she was 13 on the website. The video had been uploaded without her consent.

She had asked PH to remove it, but it remained online.

14 of the plaintiffs said they were minors when they were filmed for videos.

"This is case about rape, not adult content," the complaint said.

MindGeek operates more than 160 Adult content websites from Montreal, though the company is registered in Luxembourg.

What has the reaction been?

MindGeek said that allegations of it running a criminal enterprise was "utterly absurd, completely reckless and categorically false."

Canadian parliamentary ethics committee called for requiring all content-hosting platforms to specifically require affirmation from persons in Adult content videos before they're uploaded. They should also be above 18 years old. 

It had launched a study in December after an investigation by The New York Times brought to light the violence the website capitalized on by portraying physical relationship

In March, more than 100 victims of exploitation, backed by 525 non-profit organizations, had asked Canadian authorities to criminally investigate the owner of PH.

The lawyer representing the 34 women spent the last year building a civil case against the company.(AFP, AP)