In this disturbing episode, I was joined by Laila Mickelwait (@laila). She’s the founder of the Justice Defense Fund and the global #TraffickingHub movement.
Laila broke down real cases, including a missing 15-year-old girl found in 58 videos on the site, and detailed how P*rnhub’s parent company, MindGeek, failed to moderate content responsibly.
Laila has spent nearly 20 years fighting trafficking, and she shared how her discovery of unmoderated, illegal content on P*rnhub led to a global campaign for accountability.
We explored how early p*rn exposure affects children, the rise of sextortion, why age and consent verification must become the industry standard, and how to help protect kids in an unregulated digital world.
Laila’s book about the fight to shut down P*rnhub (100% of author proceeds are donated to the cause): https://takedownbook.com/
Sign the petition to shut down p*rnhub : Traffickinghubpetition.com
—Folllow Laila—
X: https://x.com/lailamickelwait
IG: https://www.instagram.com/lailamickelwait/
For a high quality, ideology-free education consider enrolling in Peterson Academy: https://petersonacademy.com/
—Chapters—
00:00 – Introduction
01:30 – Who Is Laila Mickelwait?
03:15 – The Story That Changed Laila’s Life Forever
06:00 – How Easy It Was to Upload Crime to Pornhub
10:00 – Launching the #TraffickingHub Movement
12:00 – The Global Petition and Media Firestorm
13:30 – Credit Card Companies Cut Ties with Pornhub
14:40 – 91% of Pornhub Content Deleted
16:00 – Why Verifying Uploaders Doesn’t Fix the Problem
18:00 – Real Victims, Real Lawsuits, Real Consequences
22:00 – Inside MindGeek and How the System Enabled Abuse
25:00 – What Allowed This to Go On for So Long
28:00 – Shocking Content That Was Monetized and Ignored
30:00 – The Need for Age and Consent Verification
33:00 – How Laws Are Finally Catching Up
36:00 – The Long-Term Trauma for Victims
40:00 – Laila’s Origin Story and Her Father’s Influence
44:00 – Parenting, Prevention, and Shame-Free Communication
48:00 – Early Exposure to Porn: The Stats and Impact
51:00 – Age Verification Laws and Industry Pushback
54:00 – Supreme Court Battle: States vs. Pornhub
56:00 – Porn Addiction and Its Neurological Effects
59:00 – Why This Fight Is Far from Over
#TraffickingHub