FTC and Utah Extract $5 Million and Consent Rules From Pornhub's Owner

The complaint, filed in the District of Utah, alleged that over years the platforms hosted tens of thousands of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual material even as the company represented that such content was banned. The government framed the conduct as unfair and deceptive under consumer-protection law.

Under the stipulated order, Aylo must pay $5 million to Utah and implement a program to verify the age, identity and consent of every person depicted in content uploaded to its sites, retain documentation supporting those checks, and remove material that fails them. The order also requires the company to detect and block reuploads of previously removed abusive content and to monitor its moderation systems on an ongoing basis.

For the adult-performer beat, the settlement matters because it turns consent and identity documentation into an enforceable regulatory obligation rather than a voluntary policy, echoing the record-keeping logic of federal law while operating through consumer-protection authority. Officials called it a landmark action against an adult-content operator; industry lawyers say it signals that platforms distributing user-uploaded adult material will face records-and-consent scrutiny from state and federal regulators alike.