The Jordan Harbinger Show
1143: Laila Mickelwait | Exposing Pornhub's Dark Trafficking Empire
22 Apr 2025
Big porn sites enabled trafficking for profit. Here, Takedown author Laila Mickelwait shares how her fight against Pornhub led to industry-wide reform.Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1143What We Discuss with Laila Mickelwait:For over a decade, internet porn content provider Pornhub knowingly profited from illegal content with minimal moderation (10 staff per shift reviewing 700+ videos each) while requiring 15+ flags before review and tracking profits from questionable categories.Sex trafficking includes deception/coercion in monetized sexual acts. For minors, any commercial sexual exploitation automatically constitutes trafficking regardless of consent.Financial pressure proved most effective in Laila Mickelwait's crusade against Porhub's shady practices — credit card companies cutting ties forced the company to remove 80% of content overnight, demonstrating how targeting enablers can be as effective as targeting perpetrators.Third-party age and consent verification for everyone in every video would prevent most exploitation while protecting privacy.Strategic activism works — Laila succeeded by gathering evidence, building coalitions with victims and experts, and applying targeted pressure despite threats and harassment. Her example shows that determined individuals can challenge harmful systems by identifying pressure points and maintaining focus on accountability.And much more...And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/dealsSign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!Subscribe to our once-a-week Wee Bit Wiser newsletter today and start filling your Wednesdays with wisdom!Do you even Reddit, bro? Join us at r/JordanHarbinger!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Full Episode
Jordan here. This episode contains adult themes. No kids in the car for this one. Coming up next on The Jordan Harbinger Show.
People are uncomfortable. They're afraid to talk about it. It's one of those things that it's affecting everybody in some way. We're all in contact with this free user-generated porn industry, but nobody wants to talk about it.
Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger. On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you.
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Layla McElwain helped expose, if you'll pardon the pun, the flagrant, out-of-control sex trafficking on Pornhub. I didn't really ever think about this before, but a lot of the people there are not up there consensually, and they're not getting paid, unfortunately, a lot of the time. I mean, it's worse than not getting paid. I don't even know how to summarize this. You'll get it here on the show.
She also helped hold some of the owners and controlling managers of the site and the company to account. This story is wild. It is very satisfying at points. We really clicked. I'm a big fan of her and her cause, and I think you'll really gain some insight from this episode. Insight that might make some of us, myself included, quite uncomfortable.
This is an important episode with a really great guest. Here we go with Layla Micklewaite. By the way, I read the book. I enjoyed it. That's a weird thing to say, but I did enjoy it. It was well-written and good. The payoffs are satisfying.
Thank you. Yeah.
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