Pornhub’s parent company MindGeek has changed its name to Aylo following its sale to an ‘ethical’ investment company, with the firm saying it needs a “fresh start” after years of controversy about safety, legality and logistics.
In March 2023, Canadian company MindGeek, which was formed in 2004 and also owned porn sites and studios including Brazzers, Men.com, YouPorn and RedTube, was acquired by the Canadian investment firm Ethical Capital Partners (ECP). The acquisition was ECP’s first, and the amount MindGeek was sold for was not revealed. ECP calls itself an ‘ethics-first’ company.
On August 17, 2023 Aylo announced the name change, saying it came in response to the need for a “fresh start and a renewed commitment to innovation, diverse and inclusive adult content, and trust and safety.”
While Aylo runs a veritable menagerie of porn sites and studios it is Pornhub, the world’s most popular porn site, that has caused the company the most problems. In 2020, a New York Times article highlighted how minors allegedly appeared in adult content on the site, among other allegedly illegal content. Pornhub has since purged hundreds of thousands of videos and repeatedly made public commitments to safety, but it has found itself under increased scrutiny from sections of the public, media and US lawmakers since.
In 2023, Pornhub blocked access to the site in US states including Virginia and Mississippi, saying that new online porn age verification laws made it impossible for them to offer their services there. Pornhub’s YouTube, Instagram and TikTok accounts have recently been banned by the platforms, leading to Pornhub claiming that the bans were the result of discrimination against sex workers.
Sarah Bain, ECP’s Vice President of public engagement, told the New York Post: “We wanted a fresh start, so we opted for a name that gave us that freedom, so that our team and our new owners could define it how we want.”
“We wanted a fresh start, so we opted for a name that gave us that freedom”
Sarah Bain, ECP Vice President of public engagement
MindGeek CEO Feras Antoon and David Tassillo, the company’s COO, resigned from the company in 2022. ECP has not revealed who is running Aylo as CEO currently, but has said its search for a permanent successor is ongoing.
As part of the “fresh start” Aylo is seeking Alexzandra Kekesi has been promoted from Pornhub’s marketing director to Aylo’s head of community and brand. She said: “Under this new banner, we will continue to commit to our core values of consent, freedom of sexual expression, authenticity, originality and diversity.”
Aylo’s ‘ethical’ new start doesn’t seem to have resulted in a blanket ban on violence-leaning porn. Video titles on Pornhub in the week following the name change announcement included ‘Sub Slut Collared Leashed & Roughly Throat Fucked’ and ‘tight teen gets rough ass destroyed’.
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