Everyday, millions of people access the worldwide web that is internet porn and industries, like Pornhub, make lucrative amounts of money off of these viewers. Despite their massive profits, Pornhub has constantly turned a blind eye to the ever-growing dangers that is sex trafficking and the exploitation of minors.

Two weeks ago, Pornhub was under fire after it was found a 15-year-old Floridian girl, who was reported missing, was featured in roughly 60 videos on the site. The girl was kidnapped by 30-year-old man Christopher Johnson.

Johnson was reported to have impregnated the minor, along with posting sexually explicit content of her to Pornhub. According to the police report, the girl’s pregnancy was terminated after Johnson took her to an abortion clinic.

Despite the legal age restrictions and identification system in place, Pornhub ignores these regulations therefore do not require background checks for people, like Johnson, to submit their videos. This is strongly opposed to other adult entertainment sites that require things like an official government identification card.

Having no set standards for uploading leaves the door open for perverted individuals like this and others to conduct dangerous activities, which is especially threatening at a time when sex trafficking is not only evident but prevalent in the United States and other countries.

Earlier in Oct., multiple accusations came forward against “GirlsDoPorn,” a website that posts adult videos on its own site and contributes to other sexual websites, such as Pornhub. The owner and other members of the company are currently facing sex trafficking charges after several women said that they were lied to and physically coerced to participate in their videos.

Along with these claims, GirlsDoPorn is also now facing child pornography charges. The prosecutor claims that Michael Pratt, owner of the company, flew a 16-year-old girl to California to film her having sex. This is another dark mark on an industry that has found itself in a good light.

Last year, 4.79 million videos were uploaded to Pornhub.

Some striking key words were used in the majority of these videos’ titles included: “teen”, “schoolgirl” and “step sister” which were all some of the most common phrases across these videos. This exploitation of taboos normalizes things that should have no place in common culture.

By promoting videos like this, Pornhub has profited off of select viewers’ sick and twisted fantasies involving young girls and made subjects like these virtually unavoidable for anyone scrolling the site.

Whether we care to admit it or not, porn is here to stay in our society and is only growing in the technology-driven world we live in today. While it is viewed by some as a necessary evil, industries like Pornhub’s actions, or lack there of, are dangerous. To keep minors and to a greater extent sex workers, safe, change needs to be made to these companies’ policies.